World Merit Day 2019

By -

World Merit Day 2019!

In 2014 the United Nations officially marked the 24th of July as “World Merit Day”. On the inaugural World Merit Day, a huge launch and celebration was held in Liverpool, UK. Over three thousand young people from around the globe came together to pledge their commitment to transforming our world by 2030. Leading figures from business, politics and human rights, including Sir Ken Robinson and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, were keynote speakers and became new World Merit ambassadors.

Each year since 2014, World Merit Day has grown and spread around the world, with councils and members celebrating in unison. The 24th of July is a day to reflect on the impact that has been made throughout the year, and also a time to strategize for the future. Many councils got together and had a celebratory meal, some also went on the radio and television to advocate for World Merit and the SDGs. For some, it was ‘business as usual’ as they continued creating waves of change and epic impact in their communities.

This year, World Merit has Highlighted five incredible Social actions held for World Merit Day which have created a massive impact towards their community and Sustainable Development Goals.



Ahepe Kpowla, TOGO
This impact focused on SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth
Over 50% of Togo’s estimated seven million people are engaged in agriculture, with over 65% of these households (2.8 million) living in poverty. This Project sought to educate and connect local smallholder farmers. Due to this impact, 65 farmers are now involved in practical field training learning new farming techniques. These farmers have also been rewarded with seed funding from Pont Universel Suisse-Togo.



Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA
This impact focused on SDG 1, No Poverty.
This Project focused on homelessness after the council announced that there would be fines for those who, ‘Obstruct pedestrian traffic.’ World Merit South Africa took action to create the, ‘Buy a bed,’ campaign, which successfully provided 125 nights at the Haven Night Shelter. As well as the, ‘Lend a hand where you can,’ campaign, which encouraged the donations of basic but crucial items the shelter needed such as, toilet paper, soap, and blankets.



Kwabre East District of Ashanti Region, GHANA
This impact focused on ALL SDG’S
This project aimed to educate 9 to 15-year olds about the importance of the SDG’s. This workshop engaged the young people by giving them the opportunity to brainstorm and present their thoughts and social action ideas regarding all the SDG’s. The feedback from the young people included ideas such as for SDG 2, zero hunger, increased education on the importance of farming as well as home gardening. This sensitisation day surely inspired many young people. The Great Hope international school set up an SDG club to continue the fantastic work of the young people and facilitate impact.


Rabat, MORROCO
This impact focused on ALL SDG’s.
This project emphasized learning the importance of the SDG’S through fun activities! ‘SDG Booths’ were set up focusing on different groups of SDG’s. Each booth hosted a new activity to engage and teach attendees about the different social development goals. For example, there were puzzles, memory games and problem-solving activities. The organiser of the even Rabat cried tears of happiness and joy, as he did not expect to trigger the ambition of such a large number of attendees.








GHANA

This impact focused on SDG 4, Quality Education.
In celebration of World Merit Day, World Merit Ghana visited Ideal College High School to host their SDG awareness campaign which focused on SDG 4, Quality Education. World Merit Ghana wanted to educate pupils on the importance of staying in school and receiving an education in order to combat school drop out and increased drug abuse amongst students. 85 students from different departments took part in the workshop which successfully has led to the creation of an SDG education club at the College.





We look forward to World Merit Day 2020 and the anticipated actions and impact that will be celebrated next year.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A letter from Cllr. Richard Kemp

By -
Image
Dear World Merit friends, It was 6 years ago today that World Merit was officially launched in the Houses of Parliament on the banks of the River Thames in London, England. It is also the anniversary of Marlou Cornelissen, who is today celebrating an impressive 6 years of work and dedication to our organisation and its cause. It is therefore a particularly poignant day to officially welcome Marlou in her new capacity with us; World Merit Charity Board is excited to announce the appointment of Marlou as our new CEO. Marlou was born in the Netherlands and moved to Liverpool, UK in 2013 where she continues to reside along with her husband Jeroen and their daughter James. Marlou joined World Merit in its very early days and has been the heart and soul of the organisation. Prior to joining World Merit, Marlou obtained a Masters Degree in Health Economics, Policy and Law with a minor in Global Health. She is also the Founder of Run for Life, a Dutch charity that has raised over €300,00...
Read more

Reflections on 2019; onwards and upwards

By -
Image
What a year! As we were putting together the December version of our Impact Report, we reflect on a big year for the World Merit community. We have re-connected with many long-term friends and colleagues within the World Merit family. We created beautiful partnerships with likeminded people, organisations, governments, businesses and institutions. We met people who left an ever-lasting impression, who have inspired us to do so much more than what we are already doing. We reflected and went back to where it all began: We created a touching video of our Manifesto, written by our founder Chris Arnold when World Merit was born. We stripped down , all in order to see the nakedness, the vulnerability, our mistakes, the cross-roads, the challenges. The teething aches and growing pains. We embraced where we are and celebrated how far we’ve come. We took a deep breath and started to put the foundation back together. We revisited our vision: We are here to unleash the upcoming generat...
Read more

South African Women’s Month

By -
Image
South African Women’s Month August 2019 has been very productive for World Merit South Africa since it is Women’s Month in their country! We are very proud to highlight these reports from Emmanuelle Tshala and Sinolonwabo Xhonti who have so brilliantly expressed the issues women are facing in their country and presented many amazing projects World Merit South Africa have put together to tackle these issues. In South Africa, August is widely known as women’s month. This is a month where attention is drawn to the plight of women in this country and various campaigns are launched in order to further the female agenda. Like in many other parts of the world, women in South Africa are a significantly marginalized group. This marginalization presents itself in various forms such as high rates of gender-based violence, income inequality, poor access to positions of power and lack of access to basic needs such as sanitary towels. Although this all paints a grim picture for the stat...
Read more