Sinouk Coffee & UNFPA sign partnership to raise awareness of
Lao youth and women issues
20 March 2020
Late last year, Sinouk Coffee signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The aim of this partnership is to increase awareness of the significance of empowering the youth and women of Laos. Moreover, Sinouk Coffee desires to become better involved in achieving sustainable goals such as equal rights and education.
Currently, Sinouk Coffee has planned activities including mobile clinic sessions for our staff and communicating about related issues through all our platforms. These include social media, email, website, and our Cafes, where we will be displaying visuals. In the future, we hope to plan more activities in line with sustainable goals.
Moreover, Sinouk Coffee wishes to emphasise that all of us must actively participate in advocacy, to achieve fairness and sustainability for our future generations.
However, most of the findings are only associations while some have cause and effect relationships. Note that this is not a recommendation for you to necessarily start increasing your daily coffee consumption, especially in a drastic manner. That may result in adverse health effects.
So, how does coffee affect health?
What are the UN sustainable goals?
The sustainable goals refer to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a blueprint involving 17 interconnected goals to overcome the global challenges that everyone faces by an ambitious deadline of 2030.
The 17 goals:
1. No poverty
2. Zero hunger
3. Good Health & Well-Being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean Water & Sanitation
7. Affordable & Clean Energy
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life on Land
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships
Read more about them here: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
How do the SDGs relate to Sinouk Coffee?
Sinouk Coffee was established with the intent to provide jobs, innovate and grow the Lao Coffee industry, and make Lao Coffee famous worldwide. This aligns with the SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth, and SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. Subsequently, it has also aligned itself with SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being, SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
Sirina Hervy-Sisombat, Managing Director of Sinouk Coffee stated, “Sinouk Coffee always strived towards improving the welfare of the Lao people through its business. It is a principle that Sinouk Coffee operates on. Hence, this partnership with UNFPA further reinforces our commitment to sustainability and equality in Laos. To that effect, Sinouk Coffee will contribute to the attainment of the vision of UNFPA”.
UNFPA’s vision: “Delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled”
How does UNFPA organise its efforts?
2 UNFPA Campaigns
Me,My body, My planet, My future
• Promote active participation of Lao youth at urban and rural areas in public advocacy on SDGs
• Provide spaces/platforms for youth to innovate and execute actions to engage in their future
• Contribute to the advancement of SDGs in Laos by further expanding the “Noi” framework and ecosystem.
Noi Framework
• Noi is a character that represents all Lao girls
• The Noi framework was created in 2016 to spread awareness on issues affecting Lao girls, particularly early marriages and early pregnancy.
• It is aligned with reaching the UN SDGs of zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth.
What can you do?
Sinouk Coffee invites everyone to follow us on Facebook where we will share updates on the campaigns. Most importantly, follow the UNFPA Facebook page and the hashtags #memybodymyplanetmyfuture, and #noi.
With this partnership, we hope to contribute more meaningfully to improving the well-being of youth and women in Laos. Please visit UNFPA Laos website to learn more information, read news, publications, and access data.