December 5th is the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development – a day set aside by the United Nations to recognize individuals and groups working without pay towards a better world for everyone. It is viewed as a unique chance for volunteers and organisations to celebrate their efforts, to share their values, and to promote their work among their communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), United Nations agencies, government authorities and the private sector.
This year’s theme is Volunteering for an Inclusive Future and it looks at how people and corporates globally are contributing to inclusion and reducing inequality within and among countries which is the Sustainable Development Goal 10.
Whilst the world celebrates the International Volunteer Day (IVD), Sahara Group is delighted to express its gratitude to staff and volunteers across the globe for relentlessly giving part of their time, talent and treasure to promote sustainable development. This year an accumulated staff volunteer hours of is Five Hundred and Ninety Seven (597) hours has been so far recorded with sixty – nine (69) staff involved so far.
Over the last 12 months, Sahara Foundation with support from staff volunteers have supported our target of powering aspirations through creating wealth and capacity building for youth and other vulnerable members of our host communities. Our volunteers have played a constructive role to reducing inequalities through mentoring high school and university undergraduates via the Sahara Hub, supporting our vocational skills programs across our host communities and serving as volunteer educators for locals in low income communities where Sahara Group has a presence.
One of the core philosophies of Sahara Foundation is the involvement of staff members in the implementation of Personal and Corporate Social Responsibility (PCSR) initiatives. This reinforces the significance of ‘Personal’ in the PCSR mandate that guides Sahara Foundation’s interventions across the globe.
On this commemorative day, we salute all our staff volunteers whose voluntary engagement and actions cannot go unnoticed, whose hard work and selflessness have counted hugely in the lives and communities that have benefited from their dedication. Volunteers are often seen as unsung heroes, but whenever we can, we take the time and space to recognize their outstanding efforts publicly.
Today we celebrate them for their commitment, dedication, commitment, generosity, altruism and hard work. We applaud their philanthropy and appreciate their giving in time, money, efforts and resources.
As part of our commitment to working with staff members, Sahara Foundation recently launched a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ambassadorial program that will engage staff members as advocates in the effort to end poverty, increase access to energy and combat climate change and also recognize exceptional staff during the programme that inspire others to work together for a better world especially in Sahara Group host communities. The Sahara SDGs Ambassadors will also help design and possibly implement social impact projects alongside Sahara Foundation towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals. We look forward to a productive engagement with our SDG ambassadors and assure them of our continued support.
Happy International Volunteer Day 2019
