United Nations goals
Zero hunger, education, equality, water, life below water and on land: how our projects, run with local partners, contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals set with our local partners
Our projects follow medium- and long-term goals, set with local partners in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2015, one hundred and ninety-three states adopted them at the United Nations General Assembly in New York: to fight poverty, inequality and climate change. They carry on from the Millennium Development Goals set in 2000, which ended in success, with extreme poverty halved worldwide.
The Sustainable Development Goals go further: to improve life for everyone, everywhere, and to leave a better world to the generations that follow. Living well while leaving a better world behind is the very meaning of sustainable development.
Our commitments
Freepackers programmes contribute to 8 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to end poverty, reduce inequality, fight climate change and protect the planet by 2030.
The key figures
- 193Signatory statesAdopted in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly, in New York.
- 17Goals in totalFrom zero hunger to life on land, by way of equality.
- 8Goals we work onEach carried by real projects, set out below.
- 2030The deadline setThe date by which these goals must be met.
Where we act
Seven goals carried by our projects
Each one is set out below, with the example from the field that illustrates it.
Goal 2: zero hunger
Awareness raising, education and community kitchens, in Fiji in particular.
Goal 4: quality education
Teaching and empowerment programmes, from Cape Town to rural areas.
Goal 5: gender equality
Giving women the skills to compete in the job market.
Goal 6: clean water
Preserving the mangroves and the ecosystems that provide water services, in the Seychelles.
Goal 8: decent work
Grants paid to local people and cultural exchange, in Mexico.
Goal 14: life below water
Marine conservation in Mexico, Costa Rica and Fiji.
Goal 15: life on land
Preserving and restoring ecosystems, cheetah research in Limpopo.
Goal 2: ending hunger and malnutrition
This goal aims to end hunger and malnutrition in all their forms. We contribute through awareness raising, education projects and programmes run in community kitchens.
In Fiji, the community project works to reduce malnutrition in the Dawasamu district. The awareness workshops bring together more and more local people, and the district nurse reported a real fall in malnutrition among children under five between February and October 2018.
Goals 4 and 5: quality education, and equality
Access to quality education means better prospects and a better chance of independence. Reaching goal 5 means pushing back discriminatory laws, norms and practices, which are still very much with us.
In Cape Town, South Africa, we developed a programme with the host organisation for women who want to gain computer skills to find work. The lessons keep evolving with them.
These programmes meet both goals at once: they give the skills to compete in the job market, and with them a new sense of self-confidence.
Goal 6: access to clean drinking water
Several communities have no reliable, permanent access to drinking water, above all in rural areas. A number of our projects work to reduce that risk.
In the Seychelles, after the 2004 tsunami, there were fears of a serious decline in the ecosystem of the Curieuse marine national park. Our partner joined forces with the Seychelles National Park Authority and has monitored the forest since 2013. The water services society relies on are provided by ecosystems: keeping the mangrove healthy supports the work to improve water quality. That monitoring is part of our marine and environmental conservation programmes.
Goal 8: decent work and shared growth
Several projects help raise living standards in the communities where they work, and support sustainable economic growth.
In Mexico, the marine conservation programmes now pay a grant to the local people who need it most. They also strengthen cultural exchange between participants and people living in the region.
Goal 14: conserving life below water
Across a number of projects, we work to conserve the oceans, the seas and marine resources. That is true of all our marine conservation programmes, in Mexico, Costa Rica and Fiji. By training you, we contribute to protecting marine ecosystems and the life they hold.
Our bases also make environmental choices and stick to them: recycling stations, solar panels, composting toilets, no single-use plastics. Most of them, set in coastal villages, also organise beach clean-ups.
Goal 15: protecting life on land
This goal means preserving and restoring land ecosystems. Many projects contribute to protecting species and help wildlife face the threats against it.
In Limpopo, South Africa, staff and volunteers take part in collecting data and carrying out conservation projects, including research into the hunting habits of the resident cheetahs.
Goal 17: working together
We take part in a global partnership for sustainable development, working directly with local associations inside their communities. As the United Nations recognises, joining forces and working together is essential.
Our impact reports set out, year after year, what that has meant in the field:
