Sustainability Report

Introduction

Vocational Impact takes sustainability very seriously. We are guided by the United Nations (UN) 17 Sustainable Goals and work towards improving our community output continuously.

FOCUS

Poverty

Vocational Impact works with carefully selected communities in Europe, Africa and India. We have built relationships with projects, NGOs and charities for more than 30 years. We have been committed to supporting these projects for many years and have worked with in-country management and staff to provide an increased quality of life for the communities the projects serve. We are particularly focused on development for the poorest in society, and have worked on many initiatives to build local innovation and support people to break the poverty-cycle.

Hunger

By providing the projects we partner with a regular financial income, they are able to feed many people and children in their local communities. This is done through community outreach initiatives, as well as setting up community food-hubs, and supply food and emergency packages to those most in need at weekly gatherings in the heart of rural and vulnerable communities.

Good health/Well being

Vocational Impact work with local medical staff in hospitals and health clinics, providing equipment and income to support the ongoing in-country health goals. We work with top UK universities and their students and graduates to provide additional help. We fund medical staff at all our projects to work in-house with the community in their care.

Education

We are committed to increasing access to good quality education at all of our partner projects. We have supported new school buildings being erected, as well as conducted school talks about sexual health and mental health. Vocational Impact volunteers have worked with local staff to provide community education as part of outreach initiatives.

Gender equality

Vocational Impact is committed to gender equality and the promotion of gender education at all the projects we partner with. We have hosted gender equality workshops and worked with teen groups to explore understanding around this subject.

Clean water/sanitation

We have worked tirelessly to install running water at all our projects for local residents to utalise. We support critical funding at all of our partner projects, which involves paying water bills to ensure access to water for everyone.

Decent work/economic growth

Vocational Impact partners with local employers to offer opportunities to train and seek better work positions. We offer structured career development and invest into the local development goals set out by the in-country management teams.

Sustainable communities

We believe communities should be safe, and Vocational Impact works continuously to support the safety of all the projects we partner with.

Responsible consumption and reduction

Vocational Impact is committed and focused on sustainable tourism. We believe volunteering is an important source of foreign exchange and employment, while being closely linked to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of many countries, especially developing countries. We follow the World Tourism Organisation definition of sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities".

Global partnerships

Our global partners form the backbone to our organisation and international development efforts. We are guided by their ambitions for growth and development and Vocational Impact strive to fulfil their needs by adding skills exchange. We work with organisations to help manage income and expenditure to work towards expanding to work with a larger portion of the community.

Additional ways you should choose Vocational Impact as your sustainable volunteer abroad operator.

FLIGHT OFFSETTING

​​Tot up your emissions using an online carbon calculator and Vocational Impact will pay a company to counterbalance your climate pollution by investing in a project elsewhere. All our projects are verifiable, traceable and permanent.

For your flight from Helsinki to London this would be around £20, according to climatefriendly.com. Some of the Vocational Impact projects use forestry to absorb carbon elsewhere and invest in renewables. 

Use Atmosfair’s airline ranking to check efficiency.

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