Samsung and UNDP Celebrate One Year of Meaningful Impact

Today marks the one year anniversary of a significant partnership between Samsung and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Together, we transformed the Galaxy smartphone into a powerful platform for consumers to take small actions that can add up to incredible change for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals – also known as the Global Goals – by 2030.

Installed on over 45 million Galaxy smartphones worldwide, the Samsung Global Goals app offers simple ways for our extensive Galaxy community of users to learn about the Global Goals, spread awareness to their friends and family and generate funding for UNDP’s global work to develop sustainable policies and build resilient institutions in more than 170 countries.

Our Contribution to the Global Goals                                                                 

Activities on the Samsung Global Goal app show that the Galaxy community is most interested in supporting Goal 2: Zero Hunger, followed by Goal 1: No Poverty and Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. Galaxy users routinely interacted with educational content for these specific Goals to better understand our global challenges and find new ways to support the Goals in their daily lives. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Galaxy users demonstrated increased interest in Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, rising to the third most engaged Goal in March and April.

Over the last year, Galaxy users across the United States, South Korea, Brazil, India, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and other countries activated the Samsung Global Goals app to contribute to UNDP’s major achievements in its six Signature Solutions: reduce poverty, strengthen effective, inclusive and accountable governance, enhance national prevention and recovery capacities for resilient societies, promote nature-based solutions for a sustainable planet, close the energy gap and strengthen gender equality.

With the support of Samsung and the Global Goals app, UNDP has promoted lifelong learning opportunities for people around the world, by improving the conditions and skills of young people with intellectual disabilities in Bolivia, expanding educational opportunities for young Afghan women, and also providing training and startup funding for young entrepreneurs focused on online education in Libya. Funding from the Samsung Global Goals app has also enabled UNDP to support more than $14 million in core resources to fight climate change and strengthen women’s leadership in natural resources management in 97 countries.

Mobilizing the Galaxy Community

With just under ten years left to achieve the Global Goals, Samsung and UNDP created the Samsung Global Goals app in August 2019 as a helpful tool to mobilize the Galaxy community to gain a deeper understanding of the Goals and work together for a greater good.

Through educational content and a comprehensive guide to each of the 17 Global Goals, Galaxy users learn about the challenges and interconnectivity across the Goals. They can then transform this knowledge into action by making a big difference with fast and simple solutions. Users can donate directly to UNDP, engage with short ads to generate revenue for UNDP and use wallpapers to increase ad-earnings while the phone is charging. To help maximize the impact of these small acts, Samsung matches[1] all proceeds through in-app advertisements.

Additionally, the Samsung Global Goals app has helped the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNDP’s relief efforts for the immediate crisis and long-term repercussions of COVID-19. Samsung and UNDP worked together to create necessary content to provide Galaxy users with accurate and concise information about the virus and ultimately to counter growing rates of misinformation. The Galaxy community also used the app to direct increased funding to the WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and UNDP’s ongoing effort to build resilience for those deeply affected by the pandemic.

Continued Commitment

In the first year of the Samsung Global Goals app, Samsung and UNDP empowered people around the world to spend their time at home and on the go for social good. We inspired their action to support UNDP’s important work to integrate the Global Goals into policies and initiatives around the world.

As we look to the future, Samsung will continue to expand our partnership with UNDP and seek new ways to motivate the Galaxy community to learn, share and act together to help achieve the Global Goals by 2030.

[1] Samsung has pledged to match donations with ad proceeds generated through the Samsung Global Goals app; up to US$5 million annually.