H&M Extends Collaboration With UNICEF

Commitment of close to USD 8 million for the All for Children project in Bangladesh
Oct 19, 2012 2:00 PM ET

“Bangladesh is an important production country and we want to contribute to positive, sustainable development. The All for Children project aims to take a holistic approach to child development in slum areas in Dhaka, and since H&M believes that children who learn how to read and write are better equipped to make informed choices about their future, the objective is to get 40,000 children into schooling,” says Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of H&M. 

The project goal is for approximately 40,000 children aged from 3 to 14 years in targeted slums around Dhaka to have improved access to quality education, basic life skills and social protection services. The expected long-term impact of the project is to contribute to overall poverty reduction and improved livelihoods for families, and in a wider context to improve social development in Bangladesh.

“Quality education is a basic human right, but for many children in Bangladesh this right has not yet become a reality. There are children who are either out of school or in school but at risk of dropping out. UNICEF’s partnership with H&M will help to strengthen the quality of early learning, pre-primary and basic primary education, basic life skills and social protection services for children living in the slums, who are among the most vulnerable in society. We thank H&M for its generous support to the children of Bangladesh,” says Pascal Villeneuve, Representative of UNICEF Bangladesh.

In addition, on 18 October H&M will follow up last year’s success and launch a new All for Children collection. 25% of all sales from this collection will go to UNICEF’s work with All for Children in Bangladesh.

Contact persons:

Media Relations, +46 8 796 53 00, mediarelations@hm.com

Camilla Emilsson-Falk, Head of Media Relations

Email: camilla.emilsson-falk@hm.com Phone: +46 707 96 96 15
Press pictures and background information for editorial use can be down loaded from www.hm.com User name: press. Password: trend.

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) was founded in Sweden in 1947 and is quoted on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. The company’s business concept is to offer fashion and quality at the best price. In addition to H&M, the group includes the brands COS, Monki, Weekday and Cheap Monday as well as H&M Home. The H&M Group has approximately 2,600 stores in 47 markets, including franchise markets. In 2011, sales including VAT were SEK 128,810 million and the number of employees is more than 94,000. For further information, visit www.hm.com.