Samsung India and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have announced an updated Samsung Global Goals (SGG) app that will empower Indian Galaxy smartphone users to donate to India specific projects that matter to them most. All projects are linked to causes that help further the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals.

The Global Goals address some of the biggest challenges faced around the world, including those related to inequality, climate and environmental degradation, and education.

With the updated SGG app, Galaxy users in India will now be able to donate to projects using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). These projects include educating young women, feeding school children, protecting children’s rights, supporting the fight against poverty and helping ease the loss of grieving families impacted by Covid-19. The projects listed on the app support Global Goals such as No Poverty (Goal 1), Zero Hunger (Goal 2), Good Health and Well-being (Goal 3), Quality Education (Goal 4), Clean Water and Sanitation (Goal 6), Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11) and Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12).

Galaxy users will soon be able to also contribute towards UNDP projects in India such as supporting women artisans working on Warli folk paintings, helping Safai Saathis who are frontline sanitation workers, conserving Snow Leopards in the Himalayas, one of the world’s rarest cats, and supporting the lives and livelihoods of people impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To further create awareness about Global Goals, actor Alia Bhatt, who uses Samsung’s Galaxy Z Series foldable smartphones, will work with Samsung India and use foldable devices to contribute to India relevant causes through the SGG app.

This sustainability initiative from Samsung will help bring people together to rally around the Global Goals. Samsung is encouraging Galaxy users to make an impact by taking small individual actions that add up to meaningful collective change and achieve greater societal good. This empowers the large cohort of Gen Z and millennials for whom giving back to society is a way of life and aims to make them SDG advocates.

“I am proud to stand with Samsung to help people have easy access to contribute to Global Goals and to be able to bring about a change with the help of technology. This partnership with Samsung is a collective effort to help. I am very sure that together, we will leverage our resources and scale-up efforts to raise funds that will be donated to India relevant causes through the Samsung Global Goals app,” said Alia Bhatt.

“At Samsung, we believe in using the power of technology to address the world’s most pressing challenges. The updated Samsung Global Goals app will now provide Galaxy smartphone users in India, including
Gen Z and millennial users, an easy way to learn about the Global Goals and support causes in India that are most important to them. The app furthers our vision of #PoweringDigitalIndia that aims to empower the next generation of young India,” Partha Ghosh, Vice President & Head, Corporate Citizenship, Samsung India, said.

“This partnership between UNDP and Samsung will inspire more people in India to take individual actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Technological innovations such as these are essential to enable collective impact and will help us leave a fairer and more sustainable planet for future generations,” said Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, UNDP India.

The Samsung Global Goals app, an education and donation-based mobile application, offers a range of ways for users to support and give back to the Global Goals. Users can 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 all proceeds through in-app advertisements.

Developed in 2015, the 17 Global Goals were set by the United Nations General Assembly and agreed upon by world leaders to help tackle some of the globe’s most pressing challenges. These are a set of 17 interlinked goals that provide a blueprint to achieve a better future for all by 2030.

The Samsung Global Goals app, which came to life in 2019 as a partnership between Samsung and UNDP, offers simple ways to help raise awareness about the Global Goals. The app enables people to take small actions to create change through direct donations or something as simple as engaging an ad.

The Samsung Global Goals app is currently installed in 170 million devices worldwide, making it the largest charity app in the world. So far, the app has helped in raising USD 1.5 million for the Global Goals.