Together with the expertise of our interdisciplinary project team from the University of Göttingen, the Universitas Syiah Kuala and the Université d’Antananarivo, the SDG project priorities “Health and Well-being” (SDG 3), “Zero Hunger” (SDG 2), “Clean Water and Sanitation” (SDG 6) and “Partnerships for the Goals” (SDG 17) are to be addressed in the joint, continuous exchange of the SDG partnership. Indirectly, aspects aimed at achieving sub-goals of other SDGs are also addressed. These include, for example, SDGs 13, 11, 14, 15 and 4. In this context, the project focus “Health and Environment” acts as an important interface between all of these goals.

The implementation is carried out with the establishment of the joint, sustainable program “HEALTHY PATHS” – A DAAD SDG-Partnership Program on Sustainable Global Health, which is offered every year as an interdisciplinary SDG semester program for 24 students in the Master’s section of (development) economics, agricultural science, nursing, public health and medicine from the partner institutions.

The main aim is to promote future leaders for the expansion of healthcare in their home countries and to strengthen their exchange. Students in the final phase of their studies are to be prepared for professional activities in their home country and the transfer of the acquired specialist knowledge to promote the home regions is to be supported. The aim is always to create an educational program in the health and environmental sector that is in line with the local context and the state of the art – HEALTHY PATHS offers a unique approach to this. It also makes it possible to establish development-relevant professional networks between students, alumni and experts.