At the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, the seeds were planted for significant global progress. It was there that more than 178 countries aligned to adopt Agenda 21, a “comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organisations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area” that responds to human activity that impacts the environment.
Returning to Rio in 2012 for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Member States agreed to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In 2015, at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York, ‘Transforming Our World: the 2023 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ was finalised. Within that document contained what we now know as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
There are only seven years remaining to meet these goals and each year is marked with a progress report. The 2022 report shares setbacks due to the pandemic, political conflicts and climate change, and emphasises the urgency of global actions needed to get back on track.
The White Feather Foundation is proud to be a part of the international community that works toward making these goals a reality. Read on to learn how our efforts align with 14 of the Global Goals.
The Cynthia Lennon Scholarship for Girls
As we empower young girls by providing vital educational scholarships, we make progress toward three of the goals:
Education equips girls with the skills to gain employment, thus helping to end the cycle of poverty many of them face in underdeveloped countries.
Beneficiaries of The Cynthia Lennon Scholarship for Girls receive funds to study in safe, productive programs and schools that have been vetted to ensure their high quality.
Focusing only on female students allows our community to support the effort to balance gender equality not only in education, but also in the future workplaces these girls will graduate to after they complete their studies.
The Environment
Through various projects that centre around conservation, we work toward four of the goals:
Through our sponsorship and continued advocacy of Kiss the Ground as well as our purchase of Carbon Removal Tonnes through Nori, we promote regenerative farming, which is the core of sustainable agriculture.
The merchandise we sell to support our charity goes through a rigorous review process to ensure the materials, production and packaging all respect sustainable practises.
Through actions such as sponsoring the B.I.G North Pole Expedition, we help advance scientific research to accelerate learnings and communicate the urgency of climate change.
Our work to raise awareness and support for The Oxygen Project helps prevent Deep Seabed Mining, which saves marine life and preserves the health of the ocean.
Education and Health
Our efforts in various countries across Africa demonstrates progress toward three of the goals:
By providing funding for HIV/AIDS Prevention courses at Studio Samuel, we help Ethiopian youths stay healthy in at-risk environments and share knowledge of how to remain vigilant against disease within their communities.
After my visit with the Millennium Villages Project in Kenya, our charity helped construct a girls’ dormitory in partnership with Connect 2 Learn, which enables inclusive and equitable learning opportunities for local students.
Through multiple campaigns with Mothers of Africa, we create inclusive educational institutions by way of safe spaces for learning with school builds in underdeveloped areas.
Clean Water
Our campaigns for clean water work toward two of the goals:
By building wells in Rwanda and Ethiopia with our partners at charity:water, communities that didn’t previously have access to clean water now thrive.
The Preservation and Protection of Indigenous Cultures
The roots of our charity lie in work for Indigenous cultures, which helps advance efforts for four of the goals:
When COVID-19 arrived, many of the Indigenous communities across the globe did not have access to vaccines or the sanitation needed to fight the disease. Through our Action for the Amazon campaign, we helped balance these inequalities by providing medical and sanitation supplies to communities in Peru and Colombia.
A vital component of conserving the health of our oceans relies on the care of Indigenous stewards to protect them. Through our current campaign to Save the Mirning Sea Country, we raise funds to ensure endangered whales in the area, as well as other marine life vital to our ecosystems, remain protected by a Native Title.
Preserving sacred land sites for Indigenous groups, as we did for the Kogi tribe in Colombia, helps cultivate our ecosystems and halt biodiversity loss as the Indigenous peoples are able to steward the earth in a respectful, sustainable way.
How to Help
In addition to donations and social media shares, we as individuals—or part of a workplace or school group—can help advance all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Visit globalgoals.org for step-by-step actions to make a difference.
There has never been a more crucial time for us all to do our part …
