Our long-term partners

UNICEF

Some of the challenges we face are complex and not always something that we can tackle on our own. So in 2004 H&M entered into a partnership with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. UNICEF is the world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, foundations, governments and businesses like H&M. Our partnership with UNICEF has been a successful example of how we can co-operate with others to achieve genuine results.

Since the beginning of our partnership H&M has made an annual contribution ofUSD 500,000 to UNICEF projects. The projects have focused on education for girls, HIV/AIDS prevention in Cambodia and children’s rights in Uzbekistan. We have also contributed to UNICEF’s disaster relief work on several occasions.

In July 2009 H&M entered into a new project with UNICEF called All For Children. The project is our most ambitious to date and focuses on protecting the rights of children in cotton producing areas in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The goal is to get children out of work and into school and to improve access to healthcare and good nutrition. The project which is funded by a 4.5 million USD donation from H&M, will run for five years. It is based on a comprehensive study by UNICEF commissioned by H&M on the situation of children in the cotton-growing regions of Tamil Nadu, India.

Read more about UNICEF at www.unicef.org

WaterAid

WaterAid is an international NGO that works to improve access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. H&M has collaborated with WaterAid since 2002, transforming the lives of over 150,000 of the world’s poorest people by improving access to safe water, hygiene education and sanitation. Read more here.