About us

We support student and youth groups globally to lead on sustainability and social justice. We connect, strengthen and scale impactful initiatives – so together we can go further, faster.

The challenge

Globally, less than 3% of people go to university, but 80% of leaders have a higher education degree. However, most universities are not yet ensuring that all their graduates are equipped with the knowledge and competencies needed to be leaders for a sustainable and just future.

Meanwhile, as students have always been at the heart of social change, we are witnessing an increasing number of student-led sustainability initiatives. Yet most of these do not reach further than their own institutions, while students who want to develop such projects on the other hand, do not always know how to get started.

Our response

We convene (inter)national student-led and student-focussed organisations, working on sustainability and social justice, to

  • support more and better action among education institutions and student organisations
  • scale programs and campaigns to have wider reach and greater impact 
  • strengthen capacity of member organisations to empower student leadership
  • Amplify the voice of students worldwide to influence systemic change

Our work

We run multiple sustainability programs, projects and campaigns, together with the SOS members. Building on over a decade of experience, this portfolio is designed to be easily adapted in new organisations and countries. Read more about our portfolio here. 

We do research on students and sustainability (see our  survey),  that can leverage action to transform education and direct society to a more sustainable and fair future.

We strengthen collaboration and capacity among our members, and mobilize funding together. Find out more on our membership page.

We offer workshops, event facilitation and consultancy to all organizations interested in sustainability and/or working with students and youth. Have a look at our services page.

You can also listen to our interview with Voices.Earth podcast:

 

SOS International is a formal educational partner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). We are working together to garner insight about the attitudes and opinions of young people towards sustainability while also collaborating on a joint advocacy program on campuses across the world. Read more here.

SOS International is an associate member of the Global Student Forum (GSF). We are working with GSF on supporting students’ unions around the world to take action on climate emergency and ecological crisis. Read more here.

Who we are

Board 

Team

Rotational Presidency

In January 2023 it was passed by the SOS-International Board of Directors to instate a rotational presidency, ensuring responsibilities and perspectives across our different members are shared and platformed fairly.  Find out more about our current open call (deadline Tuesday 14 March 2023) here.

 

SOS International members

Read about the SOS members on this page.

 

SOS International registration info

Students Organizing for Sustainability International is hosted by Students Organising for Sustainability UK. SOS-UK is a registered charity operating across the UK.

Charity registration number: 1184011

c/o NUS
Ian King House
Snape Road
Macclesfield
SK10 2NZ