University of Sousse, Tunisia

The Volunteer Marathon: Student engagement to future responsible citizens

The Volunteer Marathon (VM) is a student-suggested initiative that the university of Sousse has adopted as part of its strategic direction "for a socially responsible university" and its commitment to sustainable practices that are in line with the achievement of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). The main objective of this event was to inculcate a sustainable development culture in young students to guarantee future responsible citizens, who will impact their environment and commit to creating a positive dynamic in an eco-responsible spirit. To achieve that, Tunisians, and foreign students from the 17 institutions of the university of Sousse and its 42 partners, are engaged to organize and participate in 42 actions around the 17 SDGs, during a period of 42 days.

The VM organizing committee received several proposals for action from students, professors, and representatives of civil society. Based on these proposals, a calendar was fixed to realize the 42 actions for a period of 42 days. The University of Sousse is engaged to organize the VM every year in the period between mid-November and December. For the improvement of this event, the University strategy for the second edition is oriented to diversify the actions to cover all the SDGs, involve all the establishments in the organization actions, and attract more partners.

Top 3 Learnings

1. Creation of a committee composed of students from the University, responsible and engaged, to create and organize actions about SDGs.
2. Partnership with the socio-economic world (associations, companies, non-governmental and governmental organizations) for the ecosystem awareness about the importance of applying and respect of the SDGs.
3. The VM is an opportunity that allowed us to underline the important problems related to the ignorance of the importance of the SDGs applying in our ecosystem.