Locations#GivingTuesday: Transforming lives through crowdfunding
December 3, 2024
UNDP Impact Giving campaigns demonstrate how small contributions can have an outsized impact.
This #GivingTuesday, join us in highlighting the power of collective action. Around the globe, communities are embracing innovative crowdfunding campaigns led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to tackle pressing challenges. From climate resilience to clean energy, these initiatives are proof that small contributions can lead to significant change. Let’s explore how UNDP campaigns in Angola, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Lebanon, Mongolia and Zambia are making a difference.
Angola: Cooking with the right energy
In Angola, 83 percent of rural villages lack electricity, leaving families with limited opportunities. The Solar Kitchen campaign offers a solution by introducing solar-powered kitchens to communities in Huila Province. This project empowers women like Isabel and Maria, who lead local cooperatives, by providing sustainable tools for agricultural production. This project is expected to positively impact directly 47 women, providing them with better living and working conditions, benefiting also 78 families, improving food security and income generation, and an estimated 468 people, including local students, will gain access to clean energy.
By reducing unpaid labour and improving livelihoods, the campaign fosters gender equality and economic empowerment. On this Giving Tuesday, the Solar Kitchen initiative invites global citizens to support rural communities in embracing clean energy and sustainable development.
The Solar Kitchen campaign is introducing sustainable cooking tools to communities in Huila Province, Angola.
Bangladesh: Youth-led climate action to ensure drinking water for vulnerable families
Something as basic as drinking water has become a luxury for the climate-vulnerable families living in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. Rising sea level caused by climate change has resulted in increased saline intrusion, making clean water a rare and precious resource. Women of these families have to walk miles every day just to fetch a few liters of safe drinking water.
Your donation can change that. UNDP Bangladesh has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support youth-led voluntary community-based initiatives that can help these families get access to safe drinking water. The youth of Bangladesh have come forward to take charge of a new and just Bangladesh. The youth volunteers in the coastal communities are taking initiatives to install local water points, filtration units and rainwater harvesting systems to bring a sustainable solution to the water crisis. Together, we can support the youth in these communities to bring some relief to their water crisis, help them live a little better, and dream a little bigger- of a brighter future.
Led by youth, community-based initiatives help these families in climate-vulnerable regions of Bangladesh get access to safe drinking water.
Bhutan: Peace on the Peaks
In Bhutan’s rugged highlands, yak herders face a unique challenge — protecting their livelihoods while coexisting with wildlife like snow leopards. The Peace on the Peaks campaign tackles this issue by funding portable iron mesh to shield yaks from predators, safeguarding both livestock and biodiversity.
This initiative directly supports 149 families, over 2,000 yaks and 134 snow leopards, promoting harmony between humans and wildlife. It focuses on promoting human-wildlife co-existence in the highlands by shielding yaks with portable iron mesh, and at the same time protecting our snow leopards. Support Bhutan’s campaign in embracing crowdfunding to enhance biodiversity conservation and community resilience.
The Peace on the Peaks initiative supports human-wildlife co-existence in the highlands of Bhutan.
Mongolia: Harnessing the power of the sun
Mongolia’s Ger District residents face harsh winters and severe air pollution due to coal reliance. The If Only I Could Go Solar campaign offers a lifeline by installing solar panels in homes, providing clean energy and reducing health risks.
In 2024, the campaign supported 69 households, and now it aims to reach 20 more. This transition to solar energy is not just environmentally sustainable — it’s a transformative step toward better health, economic opportunities and resilience against climate change.
Crowdfunding is helping residents of Mongolia’s Ger District make the transition to clean, renewable energy.
Lebanon: A relief in the most difficult times
In Lebanon, since September 2024, thousands have been killed, including children and women, with over 1.2 million people displaced, according to government estimates. Civil infrastructure has been heavily destroyed.
Lebanon’s Civil Defense and Fire Brigades are on the frontlines, risking their lives to save civilians. Yet now, more than ever, they need your support. The ongoing economic crisis has left these courageous first responders severely underfunded and underequipped. UNDP Lebanon has been providing firefighting gear and lifesaving equipment, but the needs continue to grow. Your support can make a difference during this crisis.
Already reeling from years of economic crisis and the Beirut Port explosion, Lebanon now faces the devastating impact of a rapidly escalating conflict.
Zambia: Living with giants
In Zambia’s Livingstone region, human-elephant conflict has escalated as droughts force wildlife to seek food and water in villages. The Antoomwe Campaign addresses this challenge by raising US$100,000 for three key interventions: creating water points for wildlife, supporting alternative livelihoods like beekeeping, and educating communities on wildlife conservation.
This campaign is not just about preventing conflict — it’s about fostering coexistence. By supporting the Antoomwe Campaign, donors help build a future where humans and wildlife thrive together.
Through Zambia's Antoomwe Campaign, donors can help build a future where humans and wildlife thrive together.
The bigger picture
Crowdfunding is more than a fundraising tool — it’s a movement of collective action. UNDP Impact Giving campaigns demonstrate how small contributions can have an outsized impact and increase awareness of local actions responding to a global problem, like clean energy, biodiversity and community resilience.
This #GivingTuesday, we invite you to join these efforts and be part of a global solution. Every donation, share and conversation brings us closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
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