CES Canada Supports UN SDG's
UN Sustainable Development Goals are achievable only with a high degree of accommodation and intentional cooperation by nations committed to the betterment of third world nations in crisis. An NGO such as CES Canada is a microcosm of the larger picture, of what the world needs to address by the Year 2030.
The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform our world are intended to call all nations and civil societies by 2030 to work towards:
A little background history: In September 2000, the largest-ever gathering of world leaders ushered in the new millennium by adopting the Millennium Declaration. The Declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, was then translated into a roadmap setting out goals to be reached by 2015.
CES Canada (eat.2004) supported and worked to promote five of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The goals were to reduce poverty and hunger, and to tackle ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and environmental degradation.
ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGER
ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION
PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN
COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES
ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
CES Canada enjoys Consultative Status with the UN through the ECOSOC (Economic and Social Development Council). CES is also a global partner with UNICEF WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). It’s work in rural western Kenya initially supported the MDGs (2015); and currently, is aligned to promote and support the SDGs (2030). Here is a summary of how CES meets 11 of the 17 SDGs.
No poverty: CES has helped thousands of young Kenyans gain an education that has led to careers as doctors, nurses, teachers, businesspeople and IT professionals – and many others. Since we seek to sponsor students who are “poor, smart and ambitious” these students have seized on the opportunity offered to gain at least a middle-income lifestyle. Many have also become the breadwinners for their families, supporting extended families as well.
Zero hunger: CES provides school fees that pay for lunches at day schools – often the only “real meal” these students get each day. In many cases we provide for boarding school, at which students get full-course meals each day. Our university students are provided with the resources to pay for meals that allow them to focus on their studies.
Good health and well-being: CES brings students together for conferences that include teaching about health and well-being. Our staff have a particular focus on teaching girls about menstrual hygiene. Healthy living education includes awareness of HIV/Aids, water borne communicable diseases and the importance of washing hands with soap.
Quality education: Many students in impoverished families in Kenya have to make do with “informal” schools taught by instructors without proper training, and without proper facilities. We make sure that the schools and universities where our students attend are of good quality and reputation.
Gender equality: CES offers equal opportunity to girls as well as boys. This is in contrast to much of Kenyan culture, which is to favour boys over girls – and particularly to cause girls to miss schooling due to periods, home responsibilities and to drop out of school, often bringing about an early marriage and the end of any possible career. By paying for boarding school, we protect girls from many of the hazards they face.
Clean water and sanitation: Growing up in a clean and safe environment is every child’s right. Access to clean water, basic toilets and good hygiene practises gives them a healthier start to life. CES has sponsored several projects providing wells to provide clean drinking water, hand-wash stations and latrines for schools.
Affordable and clean energy: CES has provided many of our students with solar-powered study lights so that they can do their work after sunset – without using kerosene lanterns (which are a fire hazard, produce harmful emissions and are costly to operate). A hydro electricity connection project was included in a secondary school built and funded by CES.
Decent work and economic growth: Our students are able to qualify for and gain employment that is well beyond the subsistence farming and day-labourer positions that they would likely have had, without the opportunities CES opened for them.
Industry, innovation and infrastructure: By bringing more young people into the formal, wage-earning economy versus subsistence agriculture, we support a larger tax base from which to fund the nation’s development.
Reduced inequalities: Kenyan society is highly stratified, with many barriers in the way, particularly for the poorest families – trouble paying school fees, the need for girls to care for younger siblings, support for children with disabilities, and the lack of role models showing that career success is possible. CES provides mentoring and encouragement for students via our staff and through our Alumni group, and provides an online leadership training program operated by one of our in-country staff. This gives our students some of the same advantages as “those having” – a particularly Kenyan term for students from wealthy families.
Climate action: CES Kenya has carried out tree-planting exercises and reforestation projects in twenty schools and one university in western Kenya. This mitigates against soil deprivation and reduces climate change in sub-Sahara by supporting the unique rainforest climate of Kakamega Forest. Our activities challenge students to volunteer their time for social action, and to care for the environment and the land that sustains them.
The work of CES Canada in Kenya continues in 2021. By building young lives and giving them unique opportunities to grow and learn, we also contribute to making Kenya stronger as a nation. Inherent in the Sustainable Development Goals (2030) is the goal that greater access to education and reducing world poverty is affordable, relevant and achievable.