We are delighted to share a blog written by student Zainab, from Roots Millennium Future World School, who is part of team Equity delivering a Global Goals project for the 2020-21 GSL Global Goals Competition.
Their project is among over 957 social action projects currently running as part of the GSL movement and we are excited to be supporting them to design and lead positive social change in their community.
GSL opened up a whole new perspective for me in regards to how I can do my part more effectively as a member of our society.
Project Summary
We first had meetings to plan everything out. We had up to four to five meetings to make a plan. After everything was discussed amongst the members we had a meeting with our teachers to finalise our plan.
The Community Services Club organised a house-wise bake sale. This was a huge success, thanks to everyone’s participation. The funds generated by this bake sale were used for a warm clothes drive. Warm jackets, gloves, socks and caps were donated to a madrassa and an orphanage. A second bake sale, organised entirely by the GSL members was held to raise awareness and to collect donations for our project. All the food was home made and we followed all the SOPs that were necessary during the time of COVID-19. As a third step, we also went out to our neighbours to collect donations door to door and to tell them about our project. We made brochures to hand out so people get all the information that was needed for our project. We have also been talking to a few NGOs to collaborate with them. We have been working on our social media platforms to raise more awareness through our social media.
The biggest takeaway for us all has been the social awareness and empathy we gained during this project. Our team has whole-heartedly cooperated and has participated in the activities we have conducted till now. All the team members include themselves in discussions and agreed to make comprises when needed, making us truly grateful to be working together, summing up to great teamwork and an effective outcome.
Our bake sale has helped us a lot in raising funds and our active project social media account has also gotten much love and support from people creating an awareness among them. Project on sustainable income support program in line with:
- SDG-1 No Poverty
- SDG-2 Zero Hunger
- SDG-10 Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 17 Partnership for Goals
With this extensive effort of our teachers and my whole team we were able to collect money enough to buy 2 motorbikes. These motorbikes are given to 2 shortlisted custodians of the school to generate additional income in the evening by registering with Uber or food panda. The project will be monitored for 1 year to ensure sustainability.
STOP POVERTY!! END HUNGER!! END POVERTY!!
To measure the immediate impact of our project we will be sure to maintain a follow-up with all the stakeholders which includes the bike-owners, NGO representatives and the transportation company or platform that we decide to collaborate with in helping these people create a sustainable source of income. We will observe the behaviour of our stakeholders and see how much of a difference we make by providing them with resources. We will be measuring the long term impact of providing the motor bikes to the families by keeping a check on how their life style improves and if the bike that we provided is successful in providing an income through platforms such as uber or food Panda. We will also be taking feedback from these families. Only by keeping a track of how successful we were by implementing the aims of our project is how we determine whether our effort bore fruit.
The Journey
During the process of this project we learned many skills like communication, we learned how to communicate with the general public and spread awareness through social media. Communication was a big factor in understanding the process of the project and having an outcome. All the team members learned how to always communicate with each other throughout the whole time period we were in a lockdown without any misunderstandings in the process of the project. We also learned marketing skills as we conducted many surveys, questionnaires, did many promotions on social media and contacted a few bloggers to write about our project to spread awareness.
We learned about how many people are actually struggling with poverty and how we can actually help them. We think the most important thing we learned is helping out people in situations like these for a better future not only for them but overall for our new upcoming generations and for our own country.
There were a lot of challenges faced. First of all during COVID-19 it was really hard following all the SOPs necessary. When we arranged our Bake sale it was a great challenge for us to follow all Sops and to make younger children follow all the Sops required. During this time period there is a limitation in what we can and can not do. When we went out to collect donations it was again very difficult for us because of the pandemic. Not only that, but all the team members are also very busy in our studies as we have our CAIE’s coming up in a few months and since this is our final year we are really focusing on our studies so it has become a great challenge for us to hold weekly meetings and discuss further executions of our plans that we made for our project.
The Next Chapter
When the population arises at an tremendous rate it leads to poverty. This further leads to high level of illiteracy, poor health care facilities, and lack of access to financial resources. To stop this and bring betterment in the lives of other people I would like to say that such projects should continue in order for the better living of the people making their lives easy and lowering the burden on their shoulders. Make sure the people who are in most in need off they should be considered. This impacts have a great influence on the society and it encourages everyone to contribute for the betterment…!!
We would strongly encourage our junior classes to carry on executing this project in years to come so that even when our batch graduates, the struggle to help the underprivileged goes on. For this, volunteers who are passionate about doing this project, especially from IGCSE 2 are invited to come and speak to us, so that they can be the next torchbearers in alleviating poverty.
To grow our project further, we will try to get in touch with the SOS village to collaborate with them as they inspire us in helping the poor and orphans with care, security, higher education and job training.
In the coming week, we are going set up a charity box where people could give away things not in use, these will be sent to help NGOs.
We also hope to interview a well-known influencer and get to know about their views on poverty, this will make the people aware about the current situation of it especially in the current time of COVID-19.
