Sustainability is the catch phrase of our time, and for good reason. Sustainability ensures that the needs of today's generation can be met, without impacting on the ability of future generations to meet these same needs. fws 's goal is to build a more sustainable future for people born into less fortunate circumstances.

Therefore our children's village designs strive to meet ‘best practice’ systems for sustainability and our construction and development projects will:

1. Minimise the footprint

   The ‘footprint’ of human activities is simply defined as the impact that we have on our environment - socially, culturally, economically and environmentally. fws will ensure that any of these impacts are minimised for the long-term benefit of the local people.

2. Use existing resources or by-products

   Resources that are considered common or readily available in developed countries are often difficult to obtain in developing countries. Conversely, many other potentially usable materials are readily available in developing countries, yet are considered ‘waste’. With a growing need for environmental sustainability, societies must aim to remove the term ‘waste’ from our vocabulary, and alternatively refer to them as ‘by-products’ which can then be re-used. Old tyres, building materials and even human faeces can be beneficially utilised with the resulting quantity of ‘waste’ being greatly reduced or eliminated fws will strive to ensure that existing local resources and ‘by products’ are used wherever possible, without the generation of excess ‘waste’.

3. Build the capacity of local communities

   The provision of ‘material’ aid and funding in developing countries is not ‘sustainable’ unless it is supported with education. Good will and financial support alone will not achieve the long-term goals of development unless the skills of local community members are increased through education. Capacity building and education, combined with local ingenuity and passion can provide the necessary skills required by many people to better assist themselves. That's why all projects completed by fws incorporate simple, yet innovative solutions, designs and management strategies to build the capacity of residents and local community members. The aim is to develop ‘model’ projects with initiatives that locals can learn from, adapt or modify to meet their specific needs. We know that we have done our job right when we can return to an area in five years' time and see that the sustainability concepts incorporated into fws 's children's village have spread throughout the surrounding community. Staff and children learn about sustainable methods of living by using the systems incorporated into our children's villages. Furthermore, we plan to go a step further to ensuring such capacity building by conducting weekend workshops to onpass the skills and knowledge to the surrounding community members and by giving community members the opportunity to visit the children's villages.