House of Volunteers is a platform for community servicing and volunteerism aiming at inspiring volunteerism among students to create leadership among youth for sustainable growth of Bangladesh. Since it has started its activities officially, House of Volunteers has come up with couple of community service activities those have direct and indirect impact on achieving sustainable development goals in Bangladesh. From the beginning House of Volunteers has undertaken several projects those have accelerated annexing some sustainable development goals in Bangladesh that were targeted by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
SDG 4-Quality Education: Education is one of the most powerful and proven way for sustainable development. Through this goal, UNDP targets to ensure free primary and secondary schooling for all boys and girls by 2030 and to achieve universal access to a higher quality education. Book drive, one of the major projects of House of Volunteers, was launched with the mission of providing low cost, high impact solution to improve education. The success of this project came out with distributing more than 10000 books and journals among several institutes so that the students can be provided with quality education in low cost that is one of the sustainable development goals undertaken by UNDP. Along with ensuring quality education, this project engaged several number of volunteers who have made this project on a success with exerting their leadership quality.
SDG 6- Clean Water And Sanitation: Environment has always been a major concern for Sustainable development and Clean Water and Sanitation project has taken by UNDP to ensure safe and affordable drinking water for the growing population. To ensure this, causes associated with water pollution and water depletion need to be identified and solution to come out of this trouble need to be undertaken. Bangladesh Stockholm Junior Water Price is such a programme organized by House of Volunteers in Bangladesh through which secondary and intermediate level students participate with ideas about water problem in Bangladesh and solution to this problem. As a result, the students can research with the water problem and can understand about the consequence of this problem. So, they can realize the significance of using water properly and also come up with solving future water crisis that is very crucial for sustainable development. Using those solutions we can mitigate water crisis in the near future. Because, if we cannot ensure safe water in near future, one of the most important elements of our environment, we cannot ensure sustainability in our development progress.
SDG 9-Industry Innovation and Infrastructure: Technological progress is also a key indicator for sustainable development of a country. To uphold technological advancement, UNDP has undertaken Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure project as one of the Sustainable Development Goals as technological advancement provides a lasting solution to a nation in their economic and environmental growth. We cannot progress in technological area if our present generation is backward with basic technological knowledge. As a part of overcoming this circumstance, House of Volunteers launched Open Source Computer Education Programme (OSCEP) project through which computer learning centers were established in backward regions. Secondary level students were trained computer basic functions free and they could use those computer free of cost. That will eventually help the nation with several tech oriented citizens who will contribute in sustainable development with their knowledge.
SDG 13- Climate Action: If we are not well aware about our delirious climate, it will be too arduous for us to rein in any sudden madness occurred in our climate. That is why UNDP has taken sustainable development goal to mitigate climate related disasters and the annual average losses from earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones etc. House of volunteers has undertaken Earthquake Awareness Program (EAP) to reduce the losses caused by earthquake engaging 200 volunteers. This project became successful with making more than 6500 students aware through several workshops. Through this awareness program, people will come to a familiarity with climate actions and how to minimize it. That has a great impact on sustainable development because today’s aware children are tomorrow’s aware guardian. Climate actions cannot be avoided or stopped completely but aware citizen can minimize the loss occurred by it, that is also an agenda of Climate Action goal undertaken by UNDP for sustainable development.