SDGs and the Rights of the Child
She Yün is helping to achieve the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ in the Indian state of Sikkim
As a civil society organisation, She Yün intends to play a role as a partner in achieving the objectives of the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which aims to bring about a “peaceful, prosperous and sustainable” world based on respect for fundamental Human Rights.
She Yün adheres to the principles of the SDGs
She Yün ensures that its school support programme is open to an equal number of girls and boys, who are selected on the basis of vulnerability criteria. In doing so, it is putting into practice at its own level its commitment to the principles that underpin the SDGs, including the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’ (LNOB), with a view to combating poverty (SDG 1) and reducing inequality (SDG 10).
She Yün identifies SDG4 as its number-one SDG
In its desire to provide the children and young people who benefit from its programme with support throughout their education/training pathway, from basic education to access to decent work, She Yün is firmly committed to the very spirit of SDG4 and is contributing more specifically to the achievement of targets 1 and 4 of this SDG1.
SDG 4 – ‘Achieve inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.
Target 4.1: ‘‘… ensure that all girls and boys complete a full course of free and compulsory primary and secondary education of good quality, leading to learning that is relevant and effective’.
Target 4.4: ‘… increase (…) the number of young people (…) with the skills, especially technical and vocational skills, needed for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship’.
Targeting children and young people in ‘vulnerable’ situations who have difficulty accessing formal education, irrespective of their ethnic or religious background, She Yün is also making a contribution to the collective effort to achieve target 5 of SDG4 in the Indian state of Sikkim.
Target 4.5: ‘… eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for vulnerable people, including (…) indigenous people and children in vulnerable situations’.
She Yün contributes to the achievement of other SDGs
In line with the principle of intersectionality that characterizes the SDGs, She Yün‘s intervention in the field of education also intersects with the ambitions of other SDGs.
In addition to its contribution to the collective effort to achieve SDG 1 (‘eradicate poverty’) and SDG 10 (‘reduce inequality’), She Yün is also helping to achieve the targets of the following SDGs:
SDG 5 – ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’.
Target 5.1 : ‘…end (…) all forms of discrimination against women and girls’.
SDG 8 – ‘Decent work and economic growth’.
Target 8.6 : ‘Reduce (…) the proportion of young people not in school, employment or training’.
She Yün’s action is in line with the International Convention on the Rights of the Child
By promoting equal access to school education for ‘vulnerable’ girls and boys in Sikkim, She Yün’s action is specifically in line with the framework of the Rights of Provision of the CRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed by India in 1989). The Rights of Provision consist of guaranteeing children access to various services and facilities, including ‘school related’ services’.
The Rights of Participation of the CRC give children the opportunity to make their voices heard. By enabling the children of the programme to build their own life project by making the inherent choices in their school careers, She Yün aims at making the Rights of Participation a reality, in particular and above all that expressed ¨in article 12: ‘to enable children to express their views freely on all matters affecting them’.
Aware of the indissociability of the Rights of the Child (Provision, Protection, Participation), She Yün intends to make its contribution to the concrete implementation of the principles of the CRC, whether in the context of its own actions or in the wider context of actors working in this direction in Sikkim.
