What Are The Sustainable Development Goals?
Many organisations use the UN Sustainable Development Goals to measure their impact, but what are they and why are they useful?
At Matchable we work with many impact organisations with such amazing causes behind them. We want to ensure that our community of Matchable volunteers, who support these organisations, know about the wider contribution they are making to our planet and its people.
Many companies and impact organisations use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to record and track their impact. The Sustainable Development Goals were created by United Nations Member States in 2015, to encourage a global partnership for peace and prosperity for both people and planet. These goals recognise that the changes that need to be made to make our Earth a better place for all should be adopted by us all, as part of everything we do, from strategy to improve education globally, to creating more sustainable economic growth from the grass roots up.
Over the next 17 weeks, we will be sharing some insight into each of the SDGs, and will introduce our community to some of the great organisations we partner with that are working hard to get closer to achieving these goals. Check back here to see a new SDG added each week.
SDG 1: No Poverty
SDG 1 ultimately aims to end poverty in all of its forms globally. The main objective for this goal is to ensure all individuals - specifically the most vulnerable - have equal rights to resources, basic services, new technologies, and natural resources like clean water.
A perfect example of a social enterprise within the Matchable community that is working towards SDG 1, is Choco4Peace, who enable low income Colombian farmers to escape poverty and conflict, by helping them re-train as cacao entrepreneurs and use blockchain to find markets for their cacao and ensure they get a fair payment.
Their social enterprise supports positive socioeconomic and environmental outcomes in post-conflict regions through the empowerment of women, youth and indigenous people in the cacao sectors, while provide access to markets, financial models and the technology of the future: Blockchain - all working towards the goal of no poverty by 2030.
Some of the other organisations that our Matchable Community support who are working towards this SDG include: Street Invest (building trust between adults and street-connected children to formulate programmes for the virtual workplace), and Zola Eve (training women trafficked into the UK with vocational fashion skills).
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
SDG 2 has the ultimate goal of ending hunger, achieving food security, improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture by 2030. In order to achieve this goal we must meet the four pillars of food security globally: availability, access, utilisation, and stability, which can only be met by all having equal rights to economic resources (property, natural resources, new technology).
Lemonaid Beverages is an organisation within the Matchable community, working towards achieving SDG 2.
“With every bottle that’s bought, Lemonaid aims to help people and communities to help themselves. Focusing on parts of the world frequently disadvantaged in the global economy, we want to support local initiatives which work to improve social, economic and ecological structures. This is why we support the Lemonaid & ChariTea Foundation with 5 cent / pence from every bottle purchased. Since January 2010, we’ve raised more than €4,000,000 which the Foundation can now put to good use for a variety of social projects in the growing regions.”
Another example in the Matchable community is Feed Me Good.
“Feed Me Good is a proud female-led organisation that has a holistic approach to combating Health Inequality in the Black and Ethnic Community, founded with the support of the Princes Trust.
Feed Me Good's focus is to be a leading innovation company with four key pillars - Health, Wellbeing, Sustainability, and Education.
Feed Me Good has grown from a small start-up to a successful community-focused organisation. In 2017, Nureen, the Founder, partnered with Swedish furniture giant, IKEA, as one of their LIVE LAGOM Influencers. Nureen develops and delivers workshops in the IKEA Greenwich Store and Facebook Lives for the programme specialising in Food Waste and Nutrition.”
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
This SDG covers a wide range of goals, including ending preventable deaths of all individuals, giving more financial support to research of medicines tackling physical or mental illnesses, promoting equal access to quality healthcare, and also increasing the financing of health support services in the workplace.
Over the past year we have seen many examples of lowered physical and mental wellbeing, however with this has come some incredible organisations who are working to tackle these issues and promote better wellbeing for all.
One of these organisations is R;pple, founded by Alice Hendy late last year after the loss of her brother. “The content available online following a harmful online search is far too readily available and fails to provide enough of an intervention between a user searching for harmful content and the subsequent display of the search results”. Alice set it upon herself to create an online monitoring tool that is set to generate a pop up when someone flags as searching harmful or suicide-related content, providing resources and urging those individuals to seek help - which will quite literally save lives.
Brotein is another example of an organisation supporting positive mental and physical health. “The world's first protein powder with Rhodiola, designed to boost both mental and physical performance, with 10% of all profits being donated to men's mental health charities.”
SDG 4: Quality Education
This SDG aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Project One Sky is an organisation working towards SDG 4 using Matchable volunteers. They provide wellbeing education to students to help improve their social and emotional intelligence, develop competence and character, and learn to develop, nurture and sustain their wellbeing in their journey through life. Project One Sky emphasise that school should be about more than just exams, and should prepare students to thrive emotionally in the modern world as well.
Also seeking volunteers through Matchable is EasyA, which helps improve access to high-quality education through their chat-based mobile app. Students can access free, on-demand STEM mentoring when they need it most. The past year has exacerbated educational inequalities, with school closures keeping 90% of students out of school. EasyA have been praised for their innovative approach to accessible learning, helping to improve remote learning opportunities. They have even been named Apple’s App of the Day and featured in Tatler and the Wall Street Journal.
SDG 5: gender equality
This goal may be familiar to many of us, as we are seeing many campaigns and organisations working towards a world where gender equality is standard practice. However, there are many elements to this goal, covering a wide range of issues and experiences.
SDG 5 is working towards ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere, from eliminating all forms of violence and harmful practices, to recognising and valuing unpaid care and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and education. Also, by 2030, we should be ensuring equal rights to all resources, such as finances, property, and inheritance.
An amazing organisation working towards this goal is Ila, which believes in the power of technology and training to build a more inclusive and informed society. Using human-centred design, they are creating an application that combats domestic abuse by training retail staff to become allies and redirect victims towards help.
Through their experiences witnessing the effects of gender inequality, and seeing how this manifests itself around the world from marital rape to sex trafficking in India, Ila founders Net and Julie have realised the huge misconceptions surrounding gender based violence and how these were actually preventing survivors from escaping violence and pursuing a full life of their choice. They believe gender based violence is the most extreme form of gender inequality, and want to work towards a world where gender equality is a standard - not a privilege.
Other organisations that Matchable are supporting through providing skills based volunteers are:
Over The Bloody Moon - educating and empowering women through perimenopause via self care platforms and classes.
Developers In Vogue - providing training, mentorship, and job placement opportunities for African women who are passionate about building a career or business within the tech ecosystem.
SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation
SDG 6 highlights possibly one of the most basic needs for every human: clean water and sanitation. It focuses on achieving universal access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene. Additionally we must support water and sanitation related activities, minimise any use of hazardous chemicals and reduce waste water globally. Finally, this SDG is working towards protecting and restoring water related ecosystems.
A clear and innovative organisation to introduce here is Deep Waters AI, who are using satellite and AI technologies to find new sources of underground water, and pipe leaks. They are able to do this at up to 98% accuracy, and are looking to donate a huge 51-100% of their profits to water philanthropy.
The DW AI team have also worked incredibly hard to create a map of the Earth's underground water, and will launch ‘SpaceWater AI’, a free underground water mapping service for water charities and non profits.
Another organisation looking for skills based volunteers with Matchable is Unfabled, the first ever online store for menstrual wellbeing! Their team sources sustainable and natural brands for period care, period symptoms, and self care.
Finally, we would love to highlight WaterAid. Established in 1981, they began working towards the goal of getting water, toilets, and hygiene to the millions of people still living without these basic human rights. If you’d like to hear more about how volunteering through Matchable has supported them you can read our case study.
SDG 7: affordable and clean energy
This goal's main focus is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services, increasing share of renewable energy, and facilitating more access to clean energy research and new technology. This also includes upgrading energy services in developing countries to ensure they have the access to the most modern and sustainable technologies.
Acre Impact Capital is an organisation who partners with Matchable who are doing many things to work towards this goal. Acre invests in climate-aligned infrastructure projects in Africa, providing essential services to underserved populations, addressing and combating the estimated $100 billion annual infrastructure financing gap. Acre Impact Capital are also contributing to a huge 11 of the 17 of the SDGs!
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
This goal includes working towards higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, equal opportunities, and innovation. This goal also aims to achieve decent work for all, specifically people of all ages and persons with disabilities. Finally, this goal is aimed at ending modern slavery and human trafficking, and promoting sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and product.
Matchable are supporting Zola Eve - a sustainable, ethical yoga wear brand. Zola Eve's new peaceful living mission is to empower disadvantaged, unemployed women with the confidence, skills, knowledge, and experiences needed to become independent, contributing members of society and help them realise their true potential.
Zola Eve support a few different amazing causes. Firstly, 10% of sales are donated to help women affected by the devastation of war. They have also recently created a CIC enterprise to directly empower and support women who have been trafficked into the UK; read more about it here.
Another organisation to highlight here is Startup School for Seniors - a not-for-profit organisation created to support over 50s to discover new pathways to employment, with all of their profits being reinvested into the business.
SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
This goal is based on the idea that our ability to connect and communicate effectively, move people and things efficiently, and develop new skills, industries and technologies, is central to combating many of the economic, social and environmental challenges currently faced worldwide.
There are many elements to this goal, including building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and fostering innovation. All of these can help boost economic growth and help to generate employment and income, such as by promoting new technology, facilitating international trade, and encouraging efficient use of resources.
An organisation working towards SDG 9 is Strong by Form. They create technologies that develop with the environment, rather than at its expense. Their first technology "Woodflow" generates ultra-light high-performance timber-based composites, which can be used as a sustainable alternative to concrete and steel.
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
This goal encompasses promoting the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, and more. Also, its goal is to facilitate orderly, safe and responsible migration of individuals, with a special and differential treatment for individuals within developing countries.
Blooming Rose is a new organisation that is supporting the growth and success of BAME-owned wellness brands within the UK. Blooming Rose operates on 4 main pillars: Serving communities, Influencing Policy, Strengthening Advocacy, and Inclusion Research.
The Founder, Rose Nunu, is a second generation black British female of Nigerian heritage, who says she owes everything to her parents who came to the UK for a better life. Rose has always felt compelled to support others like her to surpass imported limits and overcome adversity to find their rightful place in this world, and Blooming Rose is another testament to her beliefs.
Matchable have been very inspired by Rose's passion, and she has recently been Matched with some incredible volunteers who are motivated to support her on her journey. One example is Simon Morris at ServiceNow who has been providing invaluable strategic support on an ongoing basis.
Another organisation we would love to highlight is Freedom of Expression - a collective micro event space designed sustainably, that will host events curated by local independent artists. Their vision is to encourage more individuals from the LGBTQI+ and other marginalised communities to share their art and have a sustainable impact at the same time.
The Founder Dimple Takhtani says: “Identifying as queer, I’m originally from India and currently reside in Vancouver, B.C. From as long as I can remember, I have aspired to become an entrepreneur as my father is. FoE began with my vision to encourage queer creatives to share more art and create our own representation. I believe that the main purpose of our existence is to serve our community and do our bit to make tomorrow better.”
SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities
SDG 11 aims to strengthen efforts to protect the world's cultural and natural heritage. This includes providing universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces, and ensuring access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and transport systems.
An organisation that focuses on protecting and supporting cultural and natural heritage is I AM THE WORLD. This platform enables travellers to highlight and promote local causes so other travellers can help with their time, skills or funds whilst they are there. The Founder, Andrea, believes that there is so much good we could be doing that enables us to learn about the world's cultures, build meaningful connections, and help global causes to create a lasting impact in the world.
Another great organisation to highlight is Flooglebinder. It is said that change can be made when just 3.5% of a community takes action, and that's why their mission is to work with 3.5% of schools and colleges in the UK by 2030 to build a more sustainable future together.
Flooglebinder’s educational adventures are thoughtfully designed by their founders, who have tested every trip themselves, to reconnect students with the natural world and help them deepen their understanding of their own social and environmental impact.
Through life-changing and informative expeditions, students will help protect endangered habitats, threatened species and diminishing cultures. These are real-world experiences that encourage a deeper level of understanding and curiosity around the importance of conservation.
Finally, Sam and Cam are two developers who decided to put their tech skill sets towards making planet-friendly living the new norm by creating Inhabit. Inhabit helps businesses achieve net zero with a series of tools available via a digital platform.
Sareeka, our Non-Profit and Startups Lead, says: “Inhabit allows businesses to to immediately generate large scale positive impact with its range of solutions. They also provide businesses with data on their impact to be shared and shouted about - as it should be!”
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
This goal is focused on achieving the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources, and to reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. Finally, SDG 12 aims to support developing countries in moving towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
Circla is an organisation who have partnered with some amazing volunteers within the Matchable community. They are the first company to market a reusable packaging service that enables brands and businesses to eliminate single use plastic toiletries.
Circla provides a simple, cost effective solution for brands and businesses to reduce their use of single-use plastic packaging by enabling them to transition to a sustainable reuse model without sacrificing on quality or convenience. They are initially focused on providing refills for miniature toiletries.
Another organisation that to highlight is FRI - Fashion Representation Inclusion. FRI is a social impact fashion brand launching with the woollen beanie. The wool sources will be locally collected, cleaned, and spun, thus creating a completely transparent and local supply chain for the Nordic market.
On top of all of this, FRI also plans to bring together under-employed groups of women to share skills, language, ideas and creative space.
SDG 13: Climate Action
Within this are goals to strengthen resilience to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries; and also to improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change.
An organisation supporting this goal is Evocco. Evocco builds digital tools to help people live more environmentally sustainable lives through the food they eat. Their smartphone app allows people to track, improve, and offset the climate impact of their grocery shopping. Simply take a photograph of your food shopping receipt and get a star rating based on how nutritious and climate friendly your purchases are, get personalised tips to improve your score, and make your shopping climate neutral by adding a few extra cents to plant native Irish woodland.
One of the founders of Evocco - Hugh Weldon, was named the UN Environment Young Champion of the Earth for Europe in 2018 for his work with Co-Founder Ahmad Mu’Azzam at Evocco.
Another organisation to highlight that has been matched with some of our talented volunteers is Good Routes. Good Routes make finding low carbon holidays to Europe both fun and easy, so if you’re looking to get away soon but want to make sure you’re being as eco friendly as you can with your travel - look no further!
SDG 14: life below water
About 71% of the Earth's surface is water covered, and the ocean holds about 96.5% of all Earth's water, so this SDG is such an important one to focus on!
SDG 14 mainly focuses on reducing marine pollution of all kinds, protecting coastal ecosystems, and ending overfishing, illegal, unregulated and destructive fishing practices. Finally, this SDG aims to increase benefits to least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources.
One of the incredible organisations Matchable are working with that are working towards achieving this goal is Our Only World, who are a small not-for-profit concerned with marine plastic pollution. They engage with schools and businesses to raise awareness of the problem. Their main project is to manufacture water refill stations and place them in areas of high footfall.
The founder, Tina Robinson, was inspired by the many refill stations all over towns and footpaths in Australia. As treasurer of the local marine group, she fundraised to site 2 units at local beaches. Then she discovered they were made in America and so Our Only World was born! Tina is passionate about preserving our natural environment for future generations to enjoy, and she firmly believes if each one of us does our bit then we can help the planet to meet the climate emergency.
Another organisation to highlight with relation to this cause is Ksoni, a body care brand designed to extend the eco-mindset to the bathroom through our range of natural products in plastic-free packaging. Ksoni means "Earth" in Sanskrit, and the founders Joti and Banasa’s individual experiences tackling plastic waste and its impact on the earth is what inspired them to start this business together!
Their vegan & cruelty-free shampoos, conditioners, and body washes are infused with essential oils for a gorgeous aromatherapy experience. Ksoni uses aluminium cans to house their products due to their high recyclability content and rate - yes that is shampoo & body wash in a can!
SDG 15: Life on Land
This embodies the promotion and implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, the goal to halt deforestation, to restore degraded forests and to increase reforestation globally. Furthermore, the goal includes reducing the degradation of natural habitats, to integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, and finally, to take urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected species.
Nula Carbon is an organisation partnering with Matchable employee volunteering who are working towards these vital goals. Nula Carbon is a carbon offsetting company working to bring forest protection into the mainstream. They want to make climate action easy and accessible to inspire a new generation of climate advocates.
The Founder, Charlotte Horler, worked for an ethical manufacturer out in Kenya for three years. Whilst she was there, she lived in the forest she is now looking to protect. When she was speaking to friends and family though, there seemed to be a disconnect between the concept of carbon offsetting and the consumer, and so the idea came to create a company with a strong verbal and visual narrative that would help bridge this divide, ultimately making carbon offsetting more accessible.
Another organisation contributing is Gis-E, who are a start-up non-profit on a mapping mission to drive positive change. GIS-E combines science, aesthetics and innovation, designing maps that clearly and professionally communicate essential information for NGOs, helping them access funding and networks whilst informing their operations. GIS-E’s small international team of mapping experts is similarly diverse, entirely volunteer-based and all on a mapping mission to help NGOs help people and projects who need it most. GIS-E are working towards a total of 8 of the SDGs!
SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions
This goal focuses on reducing all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere, ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children. This goal also promotes and enforces non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.
Working towards this goal is Lyra in Africa, founded and run by Maria Spink and Katy Sklan, who believe in the power of education to help end poverty. Lyra works to equip youth, focusing on girls, to drive systemic change, and create a positive multiplier effect throughout their rural communities. They are community-led and partner with remote and rural communities where children are forced to drop out or leave school without vital basic skills. Lyra’s infrastructure projects are designed with innovative green technology, sharing sustainability values and low carbon solutions with their local partners.
Lyra was awarded gold status for delivering at least 15 out of the 17 UN SDG goals! You can read the full report here.
Another worthy organisation to highlight here is Freedom Row, who found that The Global Slavery Index (2018) estimated that roughly 40.3 million individuals are currently caught in modern slavery, with 71% of those being female, and 1 in 4 being children. Freedom Row a real-time due diligence platform for modern slavery identification in supply chains. Powered by Natural Programming Language capabilities with Machine Learning, it is the first affordable and accessible tool to offer a range of modern slavery monitoring capabilities, from basic compliance to powerful, automated vigilance.
SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
The final SDG focuses on strengthening domestic resource mobilisation, including through international support to developing countries, mobilising additional financial resources for developing countries, enhancing international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation, and to encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships.
Snowland Journeys is an amazing organisation that we would love to highlight this week: Snowland Journeys is a UK based non-profit organisation founded by Zara Balfour to offer sustainable long-term support to the children, school and mountain families who she got to know whilst she was in Nepal making award-winning feature documentary film, Children of the Snow Land.
Snowland Journeys supports children born in the High Himalayas of Nepal and their families. Children are often sent away to school in the capital city of Kathmandu when they are just 4 years old, in the hope that education will give them a better chance in life. For 12 years they live and study at school, receiving a free education, but unable to see or speak to their parents due to the remoteness of their villages.
Zara and outdoor learning and expedition expert Phil Briggs developed the concept for Snowland Journeys, always working with the beneficiaries to ensure a needs-led programme of support.
Brides Do Good is another organisation working towards this goal. The team at Brides Do Good believe a wedding dress represents more than just one love story. Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18 and denied the chance of a future of their own choosing. They invite brides to stand with them to protect the rights of girls everywhere, and to create a brighter future for us all. By stepping down the aisle in a Brides do Good wedding dress, or by donating your dress, you can say 'I do' to a fairer, more sustainable world.
The team curate a collection of unique, sustainable and ethical wedding dresses which are sold at their concession space, pop-up stores and other retail events, and for every £3 they make, they invest £1 into charity projects working to empower women and end child marriage.
Finally, here at Matchable we work towards SDG 17 by collaborating with many impact organisations to make progress towards the other SDGs. We hope our Matchable Community has enjoyed learning about the amazing causes behind the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and some of the many organisations that we partner with who are actively looking for skilled volunteers to support them on their mission!
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can work with Matchable to support innovative impact organisations with your skills, please reach out to our Sales Lead Sam at sam@wearematchable.com
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At Matchable we work with companies and their employees to match them with high impact and innovative skilled volunteering projects at non-profits and impact startups.
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