You may have wondered about the criteria we use to select our partner projects and how we ensure the long-term sustainability of our impact products. In the following blog article, we would like to provide you with insights into our process. Our partners play a crucial role in bringing our mission to life on the ground.
We collaborate with over 20 organizations that tackle challenges in our seven impact areas. When selecting project partners, we always adhere to our sustainability criteria, with six key factors playing a particularly important role.
All our projects are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs consist of seventeen interconnected goals that set the agenda for creating a more just, ecologically sustainable, and socially inclusive world by 2030. We support projects that demonstrate a holistic approach and contribute to multiple social, environmental, and economic goals simultaneously, maximizing their impact.
In total, our projects have a positive influence on 13 SDGs.
We choose projects that achieve long-term impact and address the needs of marginalized groups. Our focus is on supporting children and women to break the cycle of poverty. We help them gain access to education, healthcare, economic opportunities, and social participation, enabling them to overcome barriers. Our goal is to build a fairer and more inclusive society.
In all our projects, we involve local communities and strive for self-help initiatives. Our approach is based on a bottom-up approach, where we place local communities at the heart of our projects. Thus, we ensure that the needs and priorities of the people on the ground are taken into account. We never simply enter regions with a top-down approach and implement short-term projects. Instead, we work with partners who have been active in the region for a long time, understand the local needs, and speak the language of the people.
Our ethical code ensures that we only select partners who adhere to high ethical standards and provide fair wages. Potential partners undergo thorough due diligence checks by our transparency team before selection. Our ethical code is an integral part of our work and reflects our commitment to social justice and responsibility.
Our projects aim to address the underlying incentives that have contributed to the emergence of the problem. Through targeted education and awareness-building measures, we promote a deeper understanding of sustainability and create incentives for a more sustainable future. For example, planting trees alone is not enough if deforestation continues. It requires education and a new understanding that sustainability benefits everyone.
Our project partners are responsible for project implementation, while we support them with comprehensive guidelines and ensure a continuous monitoring and evaluation process. We tackle issues together, define milestones to be achieved, and provide expertise, feedback, and technical monitoring tools. This way, we ensure that the projects are successfully implemented in the long term and achieve sustainable impact. We work with local organizations that have the best knowledge of the region and the issues, but we ensure sustainability in-house and work closely with our partners throughout the process.
To ensure that sustainability criteria are continuously met, regular meetings for exchange with our partners in the Global South are of great importance. Experiences are shared, challenges and best practices are discussed. This continuous dialogue allows us to keep the projects on track and make adjustments if necessary to ensure they are sustainable and effective.
Our 6 key criteria apply to each of our impact areas. However, we recognize that each area has specific challenges. To address these challenges, we have set specific sustainability criteria for each of our impact areas. In the area of reforestation, for example, it is essential that only balanced mixed forests are planted, while in the area of plastic collection, ensuring sustainable recycling is of utmost importance. Therefore, for each of our impact areas, there is a specific and expert-approved methodology that includes these points and ensures sustainability.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us or stay tuned for more blog posts. With your support, we can reach even more people and maximize our impact together with our local partners.
