What's the Idea Behind United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals?

Summary

Philipe Lazaro from Plant with Purpose and Anna, the Africa Programs Officer, discuss the organization's efforts in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while in Burundi. They cover topics such as poverty reduction, food security, gender equality, and sustainable communities. Their holistic model helps build resilience, promotes social cohesion, empowers women, and supports environmental restoration. Key initiatives include kitchen gardens, improved stoves, and income diversification, all contributing to sustainable livelihoods. Plant with Purpose's work exemplifies community-driven solutions to global challenges. More information is available on their website.

Takeaways

• 🌍 The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to ensure a standard of living with dignity for all people globally, focusing on issues like poverty, food security, and education.
• 💸 Plant with Purpose focuses on poverty alleviation through an integrated, holistic model, helping communities build resilience and avoid slipping back into poverty.
• 🍲 Food security, especially in vulnerable regions like Burundi, is targeted through initiatives like opportunity mapping, kitchen gardens, and ensuring access to three meals a day.
• 👨‍👩‍👧 Social cohesion is crucial to Plant with Purpose's approach, emphasizing that communities working together are more successful in making lasting changes in areas like health and agriculture.
• 🎓 While not a direct focus, Plant with Purpose’s work enables parents to afford quality education for their children by increasing family income through sustainable practices.
• 👩‍🌾 Gender equality is organically promoted, with women excelling in the program and playing key roles in agriculture, a sector in which they produce 70% of the world's food in this region.
• 🚜 Plant with Purpose reinforces the dignity of work, particularly for farmers, emphasizing that agriculture is central to both human well-being and environmental stewardship.
• 🤝 Community inclusion is essential, with efforts to reduce inequalities by encouraging equal participation in domestic, agricultural, and leadership roles across gender lines.
• 🏘️ Sustainable communities are a key goal, with a focus on empowering local populations to take ownership of their development and environmental restoration.
• 🔥 Responsible consumption is supported by introducing improved stoves that use less firewood, reducing environmental strain and promoting sustainable production methods.

Q & A

What are the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and why are they important?

The SDGs are a global effort to ensure a standard of living with dignity for all people. They focus on various aspects of well-being, from ending poverty to improving health and education, which are vital to the work done by organizations like Plant With Purpose.

How does Plant With Purpose address Goal 1: Zero Poverty?

Plant With Purpose uses an integrated, holistic approach to reduce poverty by building resilience in communities, helping participants avoid falling back into poverty, and providing long-term financial stability through savings and resource management.

How does Plant With Purpose contribute to Goal 2: Zero Hunger in vulnerable areas like Burundi?

The organization targets the most vulnerable regions through opportunity mapping and works to diversify diets with kitchen gardens and ensure access to three meals a day, improving food security for communities in need.

What role does social cohesion play in achieving Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being?

Social cohesion is a key platform in Plant With Purpose’s approach. By fostering group collaboration, whether in agriculture or health initiatives, communities are more likely to succeed in making lasting changes and improvements.

How is Goal 4: Quality Education connected to Plant With Purpose's work?

While education is not the direct focus, improved economic stability through Plant With Purpose’s programs allows parents to send their children to school, emphasizing the indirect but significant impact of their model on education.

How does Plant With Purpose promote Goal 5: Gender Equality in its programs?

Women are excelling in the organization’s model, playing key roles in implementing and benefiting from various programs. This organic development reflects Plant With Purpose's inclusive approach, which empowers women and fosters gender equality.

How does Plant With Purpose align with Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth?

The organization emphasizes the importance of farming and rural work, helping farmers regain pride in their profession. Their model connects the dignity of work with sustainable economic growth, particularly in rural communities.

How does Plant With Purpose reduce inequalities in communities, contributing to Goal 10?

The organization fosters collaboration between genders and within communities, ensuring that everyone can contribute equally to household and community work, which strengthens community prosperity and reduces inequalities.

What is meant by Goal 11: Sustainable Communities, and how does Plant With Purpose address it?

Sustainable communities are self-sustaining and prosperous, with the ability to restore their environments and help one another. Plant With Purpose works toward empowering communities to realize that they already have the power to achieve sustainability.

How does Plant With Purpose promote responsible consumption and production (Goal 12) in local communities?

The organization encourages practices like using improved stoves that consume less firewood, reducing environmental impact and promoting sustainable resource use at the local level.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Introduction to UN Sustainable Development Goals and Plant with Purpose's Mission

Philipe Lazaro, a storyteller for Plant with Purpose, introduces the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their relevance to Plant with Purpose's work in Burundi. Anna Ammani, the programs officer for the Africa region, explains that the SDGs aim to ensure a global standard of living with dignity, starting with the eradication of poverty. Plant with Purpose’s holistic model effectively pulls people out of poverty and builds resilience, which was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic as participants were more financially resilient.

05:02

🥘 Addressing Food Security in Burundi

Anna discusses food security, specifically in Burundi, which often ranks as one of the most food-insecure nations. Plant with Purpose addresses this issue through opportunity mapping, focusing on vulnerable regions with limited farming resources. The organization helps by promoting kitchen gardens and ensuring that participants have the resources to maintain a stable diet of three meals a day.

🏥 The Role of Social Cohesion in Good Health and Well-Being

Health and well-being are closely tied to community cohesion. Anna emphasizes that when individuals work together, whether in agriculture or health improvements, they are more successful. Social cohesion strengthens communities, making collective goals like improved agriculture and health easier to achieve.

📚 The Connection Between Stable Incomes and Education

While education is not a direct focus of Plant with Purpose, it is a priority for parents involved in the program. When families achieve financial stability through diversified income, one of their first actions is to invest in their children's education by paying school fees, showcasing the indirect but significant impact of the program on quality education.

👩‍🌾 Empowering Women Through Gender Equality

Gender equality is organically promoted within Plant with Purpose's model. Women are excelling in various aspects of the program, which focuses on inclusion and allows both men and women to participate in community development. Women play a crucial role in food production, especially in regions like Africa, where they grow about 70% of the food.

🚜 Dignifying Rural Work and Economic Growth

Plant with Purpose encourages a sense of pride in farming and rural work, countering the stigma that staying in rural areas is a failure. By promoting the 'Theology of Work,' the organization helps farmers see their vital role in both the economy and community well-being, aligning with the goal of decent work and economic growth.

🤝 Reducing Inequalities Through Community Collaboration

The program promotes inclusivity by encouraging men and women to work together in various roles, such as cooking, farming, and leadership. By doing so, communities prosper, and traditional gender roles are broken down, fostering reduced inequalities.

🏘 Building Sustainable Communities

Sustainable communities are a core focus of Plant with Purpose. The organization aims to empower communities to become self-sustaining, encouraging them to help each other and restore their environment, ultimately fostering long-term prosperity.

🔥 Responsible Consumption Through Resource Efficiency

At the local level, Plant with Purpose promotes responsible consumption by teaching communities to use improved stoves, which consume less firewood. This helps reduce environmental strain and promotes more sustainable living practices in rural communities.

🌱 Enhancing Life on Land Through Environmental Stewardship

Plant with Purpose integrates environmental restoration with community development. Tree planting, watershed protection, and improved agricultural practices are key strategies to improve life on land, fostering a healthy relationship between people and their environment.

Keywords

💡Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global set of 17 objectives established by the United Nations to promote peace, prosperity, and environmental sustainability by 2030. These goals are critical to Plant With Purpose’s work, as they guide efforts to alleviate poverty, improve food security, and support sustainable communities. The script emphasizes how the organization contributes to several SDGs, such as zero poverty, zero hunger, and gender equality.

💡Zero Poverty

Zero Poverty, or SDG Goal 1, aims to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide. In the video, Plant With Purpose focuses on a holistic model to help communities not only escape poverty but also build resilience to prevent slipping back into it. This approach includes savings, economic growth, and sustainability strategies that have proven effective, particularly during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

💡Food Security

Food Security, linked to SDG Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), refers to ensuring all people have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. The video highlights the food insecurity challenges in Burundi, where Plant With Purpose uses methods such as opportunity mapping and kitchen gardens to diversify diets and improve access to meals. This approach directly tackles the pressing issue of hunger in the region.

💡Resilience

Resilience is the ability of communities or individuals to recover from shocks and stresses, such as economic downturns or environmental crises. The video emphasizes how participants in Plant With Purpose programs are more resilient, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to their savings and improved livelihoods. This resilience prevents them from falling back into poverty.

💡Social Cohesion

Social cohesion refers to the bonds that bring people together in a community, helping them work collaboratively toward shared goals. In the context of the video, social cohesion plays a vital role in improving agriculture and community health, as group-based activities are more successful than individual efforts. This sense of community support is key to the effectiveness of Plant With Purpose’s programs.

💡Gender Equality

Gender Equality, SDG Goal 5, aims to empower women and achieve equal opportunities for all genders. In the video, it is noted that women are excelling in implementing and benefiting from the Plant With Purpose model, even though the organization did not explicitly target gender in its initial approach. Women, who produce 70% of the world's food, are key agents in sustainable development and community growth.

💡Decent Work and Economic Growth

Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG Goal 8, focuses on creating jobs that provide fair income and safe working conditions while promoting economic development. Plant With Purpose integrates this concept into its program by recognizing the value of rural farming, restoring pride in agricultural work, and providing the tools for farmers to thrive economically.

💡Responsible Consumption and Production

Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG Goal 12, involves using resources efficiently and minimizing waste. The video gives an example of this through the promotion of improved stoves, which use less firewood for cooking. This not only reduces deforestation but also makes the community’s resource use more sustainable, addressing local environmental concerns.

💡Sustainable Communities

Sustainable Communities, SDG Goal 11, refers to creating environments where people can live, work, and thrive over the long term. In the video, this concept is tied to community ownership and self-reliance. Plant With Purpose works to empower communities to restore their environments and maintain economic and social prosperity without external assistance, ensuring long-term sustainability.

💡Theology of Work

The Theology of Work is a concept that emphasizes the inherent dignity and purpose in labor, particularly farming, as part of humanity’s role in the world. The video explains that Plant With Purpose teaches farmers to take pride in their work, elevating their contributions to society and challenging the idea that remaining in rural areas is a sign of failure. This perspective aligns with the organization's goal of economic growth and dignity for all workers.

Highlights

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a global promise to ensure a standard of living with dignity.

Plant with Purpose focuses on Goal 1: Zero Poverty, using a holistic model to not only pull people out of poverty but also build resilience.

Participants of Plant with Purpose showed greater financial resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic due to increased savings and economic stability.

Goal 2: Zero Hunger is targeted through opportunity mapping, identifying the most vulnerable areas and addressing food insecurity with solutions like kitchen gardens.

Social cohesion plays a critical role in promoting change; people are more likely to succeed in improving agriculture, health, or well-being when working in groups.

Goal 4: Quality Education becomes attainable as parents with stable incomes from the program can afford to send their children to school.

Gender equality (Goal 5) emerges naturally from the Plant with Purpose model, with women thriving and becoming key implementers and leaders in their communities.

Women, who grow about 70% of the world’s food, are at the forefront of addressing the challenges Plant with Purpose tackles, especially in rural regions.

The program promotes a Theology of Work, emphasizing the dignity and importance of farmers to economic growth and community well-being (Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth).

The program fosters reduced inequalities (Goal 10) by promoting inclusion, breaking down traditional gender roles, and encouraging shared responsibilities in communities.

Goal 11: Sustainable Communities involves fostering self-sustaining, resilient communities that take ownership of restoring their environments and thriving together.

Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production is addressed by introducing improved stoves that reduce firewood consumption in local communities.

Participants are taught to build improved stoves, enabling them to use less firewood and contribute to environmental sustainability.

Goal 15: Life on Land focuses on improving land health through tree planting, protecting watersheds, and practicing sustainable agriculture.

Plant with Purpose promotes an integrated, holistic model that connects environmental restoration, economic stability, and community empowerment for long-term resilience.

Transcripts

hi I'm Philipe Lazaro Storyteller with

plant with purpose I'm here with Anna

ammani programs officer for the Africa

region where plant with purpose Works

we're actually here in Burundi right now

and we're here to talk about the UN

sustainable development goals and how

those relate to plant with purposes work

maybe You' just seen the circle logo

with the rainbow uh Wheels cut out but

Anna for those who maybe have varying

degrees of familiarity what are the

sustainable development goals and why

are they so important especially to the

kind of work you're doing the UN

sustainable development goals are a

collective effort to make a global

promise to people around the world for a

certain standard of living with dignity

it starts right off with Goal number one

which is zero poverty yes so poverty is

a multifaceted phenomenon and so our

integrated approach our attempt to have

a holistic model that works within a

specific area is actually very effective

at not only pulling people out of

poverty but building resilience not to

slip back into poverty we actually

published a paper on that around covid

uh and how our participants were more

resilient to the to that trauma of the

covid stress we were able to see that

our our participants had more months of

savings they had more amount of savings

so we know it's not just a sudden influx

of cash but it's like their lives are

actually different now let's talk about

food security which is the second Goal

Zero hunger uh you know I've seen in

recent years a few different times of

Burundi topping the list of most food

insecure Nations what are some of the

ways we're we're both doing that and

also measuring that so one of the ways

we we actually Target that specifically

is what is called our opportunity

mapping we look at the specific parts of

the country that are most vulnerable in

terms of uh their land is more difficult

to farm and they're they're having less

resources in their area so we're

starting off with the most vulnerable

population part of our program uh deals

with diversifying their diet uh through

things like kitchen Gardens as well as

having just having more resources to

have three meals a day this feels pretty

closely related to the next item on the

list which is uh good health and

well-being right and part of what we

really

uh focus on is this platform of social

cohesion when you're trying to affect

change in someone's life or someone's

Community when they are in a group and

they're doing it together they are much

more likely to be successful whether

it's dieting or exercise or uh improved

agriculture when people are in a group

they're more likely to be successful at

making that change and owning that

change number four is quality education

now I don't necessarily always think

like putting kidss in school scams at

the Forefront of our work but it

actually is uh pretty significant how is

that tied into what we do uh it's not at

the Forefront of our model but it is at

the Forefront of parents so when parents

are able to have a stable income the

first thing they want to do is send

their kids to school and so we see that

with our model and having diverse income

and being able to save one of the first

things they're going to do is pay their

children's school fees it plays into the

next goal number five gender equality

yes we're seeing that women in

particular are excelling and thriving

within our model they're they're

excelling and implementing the model and

they're excelling at all the different

variables that we measure in terms of

impact uh and that has happened

organically it's not something we

targeted specifically but it has

happened organically because our model

is all about inclusion and bringing

people in and allowing people the

opportunity to uh improve their their

lives and their communities I think one

reason why this said gender integration

is so important to our work too is it's

just simply who's at the Forefront of of

the types of problems that we're

addressing most of the world's food in

this region is is grown by women correct

absolutely absolutely women grow about

70% of the world's food goal number

eight that one is decent work and

economic growth and ensuring that those

go hand inand how does uh being able to

work well factor into our program model

well this is a key element of of our

program in that we talk about the

Theology of work and the importance of

the farmer as uh part of the original

design for overall well-being of

humanity and God being the original

farmer so we we're giving the farmers

Pride there's a there's a sense in the

rural communities that somehow if you

remain in the rural community you have

failed you know you didn't go to school

you're you're not working in an office

you know those kind of aspirations are

what been pushed to the Forefront but

now we're bringing the the importance of

the farmer to the community goal number

10 reduced inequalities um so yeah what

are some other ways we see that play out

in um our communities yes we talked

about that not only bringing the women

in but making the whole Community

understand that working together is the

way forward right whether whether is

taking care of their children or cooking

or working in their kitchen Garden that

when they work together the home is more

prosperous right instead of thinking

that's women's work or I can't be a

leader cuz that's for men uh we we bring

the community together to see that when

people are included in both spheres the

whole Community prospers speaking of

Community Development Goal number 11 is

sustainable communities it almost sounds

like Shand for just like of all we do

but what um what is specifically meant

by this un sdg and how do we uh address

that well part of what they're talking

about is this ownership right that over

time the community will become self-

sustaining and this is what we want we

want people we want the community to be

helping each other we want the community

to restore their environment to be

prosperous and to thrive understand that

the power to do all that is within the

community already that kind of seems

related to goal number 12 and this is

when you know it feels kind of familiar

it's responsible consumption and

production

and you know in my daily life in the US

I often think of can I make sure my

clothing was made well can I make sure

my food is grown in an ethical manner

what are some of the ways it looks like

at the local level here at the local

level we have things like improved

stoves where they're consuming less

firewood to cook their meals um their

meals are not cooked like our meals

they're cooked over uh an open fire

usually by charcoal or wood and when we

um teach commun how to build improved

stoves they are able to use far less

firewood number 15 life on land

improving yeah the the health of land

and people's relationship with that tree

planting protecting

watersheds restoring the environment

improved agriculture Better Health just

overall uh uh a holistic integrated

model thank you so much Anna and yeah

for for more info on this visit plant

withp purpose. org we have a whole ction

on our sustainable development goals and

how those are related you can dive

deeper into any one of them and there's

a lot there to explore thank you so

much