Working towards sustainability is one of the biggest challenges faced by volunteering organisations. GeoVisions sets up programs for a long lifespan, and they come to an end only when the original goal is achieved or the instigating needs are alleviated. What we try to avoid is setting up a knee-jerk dumping of resources, money or volunteers into a community on projects that will rapidly end. To build the trust of a community and to see the effects of our work, we have had to be both committed and patient. The aims of most aid projects are ongoing - things like counteracting environmental degradation or decreasing poverty are obviously not issues that are solved overnight. One of the fundamental aspects of projects based on sustainable action is that they're underpinned by empowerment rather than charity. They're about helping people to help themselves and to achieve their own goals, rather than simply ladling out aid.
Examples of ways projects can be sustainable include:
- Training members of the local community in a needed occupation such as teaching, medicine, IT or anything else identified by the community.
- Providing practical knowledge in things like nutrition or first aid.
- Helping to establish local, income-generating enterprises.
- Assisting to improving people’s living conditions as a means of improving health and increasing confidence.
- Helping to set up ecotourism projects.
Partner Reports on Sustainability
Download and read our India partner’s report on sustainability. A more organized and expansive program of community involvement in India with GeoVisions and IDEX now incorporates a wider, more holistic view, and independently supports social development initiatives that extend beyond the activities performed by our volunteers in India.
Read the report by clicking here.
We belive strongly, here at GeoVisions, that it is crucial to constantly re-evaluate the work we do to ensure it’s continuing to foster sustainable outcomes. GeoVisions continuously gains valuable insightes into how we can make the process more robust, and increase sustanability of social development brought about by our volunteers’ efforts. We will continue to add reports from our offices and our partners abroad, and we will share them here.