Global Goals For All

Global Goals For All – The Worlds To Do List!

As part of EXPO 2020 Dubai’s programme for People and the Planet, last weekend, our education team had the unique opportunity of attending the ‘Global Goals for All’ event as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal week. The session which kicked off a whole week of events, exhibits, talks and lectures, was an insightful and informative series of discussions from some of the world’s leading change makers on sustainable development.

The event aimed at creating awareness around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to highlight the need for continued and increased commitment to deliver the promise of the decade of action. With the ‘World’s To Do List’ campaign forming the backbone of the event, several sessions, led by senior global change makers celebrated how far we have come in the journey to meeting the SDGs but also to observe where progress has stalled and, in some cases, regressed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Camps International’s Commitment

Camps International have been and always will be committed to sustainable development, with the (SDG’s) forming the foundations of our work with local communities. With over 200 projects completed over the last 20 years, our enthusiasm and commitment to working on global issues is at the forefront of our decision making. With the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent travel restrictions following, our ability to make change across the world and within the communities we work has been curtailed. But one thing that the pandemic has done for Camps International is allow us to accelerate our progress and focus on other aspects of the SDG’s to ensure that we can continue to make a difference across the world, in particular education.

Whilst the construction of wells in our Cambodian communities, the refurbishment of schools in Kenya and the reforestation in Costa Rica has slowed down because of travel restrictions, our focus on education has driven our continued commitment to the SDGs. This incidentally, was one of the key messages of the UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed at the Global Goals Week at Expo 2020 Dubai event, who explained the importance of focusing on more than just one goal at a time and educating the world about the impact tackling them can have.

The impact of projects, strategies and policies that are working towards the goals is something that Camps International takes very seriously. Our Real World Studies, an educational programme linking the classroom to our projects and partner communities in the real world, was created as a response to this very issue highlighted at EXPO 2020 Dubai – how do we ensure the impact our work with communities around the world is really making a sustained and long lasting impact for everyone?

Through Camps Internationals’ own ‘To Do List’ we constantly focus on addressing our work with communities and the impact our projects really have on local communities. Our education team has spent months creating materials, resources and opportunities for schools, teachers and students to connect with real world issues despite travel disruptions and consider how we as humanity will talk less about what the SDGs are and more about what we are doing to achieve them.

Global Goals are Everyone’s Responsibility

Another keynote speaker at the Global Goals for All event was the Founder and CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, who’s inspiring talk discussed how the global goals are everyone’s responsibility, from governments, to teachers to students. Bill Gates spoke at length about how the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted more inequalities across the globe than ever before and how it is now time for all hands on deck to repair the setbacks of the pandemic. For our education team here at Camps, this message was more poignant than ever. We have seen first hand the impact that the pandemic has had on the communities we work with, from the reduced incomes, and the lack of quality healthcare to the increase in masks washing up on the beaches.

The global goals we are working towards do not discriminate, they are a shared language for everyone across the globe to help achieve a better world for humanity. Achieving progress cannot be done unless everyone works towards the same shared goal, but how can we achieve this if we do not hear how people are working towards achieving the SDG’s. This is something our Real World Studies programme is working towards achieving.

As the world adjusts to a new normal, our ‘To do list’ is to ensure that international experiences are available to everyone, with and without getting on a plane.

Our aim in 2022, is to achieve an ethical model of travel and education that links young people and teachers directly to global issues ethically and sustainably. By doing this we hope to empower the next generation of humanity to help us act and spread the word on achieving sustainable development together.