A guide to the United Nations SDGs: Sustainable Gift Hampers
Goal One - No Poverty
The UN Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs for short – You may have heard of them, or maybe you’ve seen the UN colour wheel logo – but what do they mean, why are they important, and what does this have to do with a sustainable gift hamper?
Each SDG aims to address a specific and critical issue for humanity and our planet. It can be hard to know how to begin exploring such complex topics, or even if we as individuals can make an impact.
But we absolutely can!
Each of us can contribute towards the solution, whether that’s by speaking up about an issue that’s close to your community, buying from social venture businesses or simply sharing an educational article you found useful - it’s all helpful! It is our aim at Social Stories Club to support all 17 UN SDGs, and so we wanted to start this blog series as a way to look at each of the goals we directly support and share the amazing stories of our social venture partners tackling these problems right now.
But first, what are the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?
The 2030 Agenda was adopted in 2015 by all UN Member States and describes an ambitious strategy to stimulate action in areas of critical importance. At the centre of this strategy are the 17 SDGs and each of these goals represents the issues that matter most and will bring about peace and prosperity to humanity and the planet.
How are we doing so far?
Progress has certainly been made compared to a decade ago - more people around the world have access to better healthcare, better jobs and education than they ever have before. However, at the moment improvement is not being made at the required speed, and issues such as climate change, inequalities and the Covid 19 pandemic have all put strain on these developments and are threatening to undo the progress that has been made so far.
With just under 10 years left to achieve these goals, World Leaders have implemented a new plan called the Decade of Action, calling for rapid acceleration of sustainable solutions to achieve these goals and meet the target date of 2030.
How does Social Stories Club work towards these goals?
For us, it is so important that our sustainable gift boxes are creating as much impact as possible. The SDGs act as our guide and illustrate all the areas that we need to work on in order to make the world a better place and make the most impact. With each social venture partner we take on we are looking to see what goals they support and how they do this.
The SDGs also help us keep variety amongst our social venture partners and ensures we are supporting as many goals as possible, and where we might be lacking we can then actively seek out brands that support that specific goal.
Goal One – No Poverty
Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty declined from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. The contribution of science has been massively significant in the fight to end poverty. It has enabled access to clean drinking water and therefore reduced deaths caused by water borne diseases, improved hygiene and reduced health risks related to lack of sanitation. Whilst this is a vast improvement it still means that more than 700 million people are struggling to fulfil the most basic of needs such as health, education and access to clean water.
Find out more on the UN Sustainable Goals website
Our social venture partners fighting against poverty
Dalit Goods
Dalit Goods Co make hand-crafted clay pot candles, soaps and spice sets that support the Dalit people of India. For 3000 years the Dalits, formerly known as the Untouchables, have been positioned at the bottom of India’s society that devalues them from birth. Dalit Goods Co empower these individuals through their charity Life Association by giving them employment and opportunities. Proceeds from their sales go towards providing healthcare and education to the Dalit children. Head over to our sustainable gift collection and look out for these beautiful candles. Alternatively, build your own gift box, and add one in.
Leiho
Leiho is a lifestyle brand that believes everyone has the right to basic essentials. Their mission is to ensure that vulnerable communities get access to the essentials they need for example, water, socks and sanitary products. Their journey began with socks, something many of us take for granted, but did you know that these are one of the most requested items of clothing at homeless shelters? Leiho want to make a positive change to this trend, and to do this they match every purchase made with the donation of an essential item. So for every pair of socks you buy from Leiho, a pair of socks are donated to those who need them most. These socks make a perfect addition to our sustainable corporate gift hampers.
Both of these products make excellent additions to a gift box for employees or a sustainable hamper for clients. You can find Dalit Candles and Leiho socks as part of our Pamper Hamper and Build Your Own Gift Box.
We can highly recommend the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals as a fantastic resource for learning more about the individual goals and the actions being made.
Next month, we will be looking closely at another SDG and how we and our social venture partners inside our corporate gift hampers are making a difference. We hope you found this blog post helpful but if you have any more questions please do reach out to us at info@socialstoriesclub.com.
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