All for Children

All for Children is a unique five-year collaboration project between H&M and UNICEF. The aim is to protect children's rights in cotton producing areas in Tamil Nadu, India. Child labor unfortunately still occurs within cotton production around the world. Since H&M does not buy cotton (H&M buys products straight from the factories) we can’t impose demands upon cotton and cotton seed producers. However, by cooperating with UNICEF we can help address the causes of child labor and improve the situation of children in cotton-producing areas.

The All for Children project focuses on five specific areas:

Addressing child protection policies and structures
Education
Community mobilisation
Social protection
Health and nutrition

How does All for Children work?

The aim for the All for Children project is to get children out of work and into school and improve access to health and nutrition care. The project’s overall focus is on the 1.2 million children up to 14 years of age in Salem and Dharmapuri districts in Tamil Nadu in southern India. Special focus is be given to 300,000 children up to the age of 14 belonging to vulnerable communities and an estimated 35,000 working children in the cotton fields, as well child labourers working in other sectors.

Cotton cultivation in Tamil Nadu

Since India is a large cotton producing country H&M has decided that the All for Children project should focus on Tamil Nadu, one of India’s largest cotton producing states.

$4.5m for All for Children - our 5-year project with UNICEF

The state has around 62 million inhabitants of which 17 million are children. Despite its economic progress, caste and gender related poverty issues remain prominent and pose a great problem for children in so-called “backward” regions and socially excluded Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. Children from socially and economically excluded communities are especially vulnerable to various forms of abuses, including child labour, trafficking, and abandonment .

The project All for Children focuses its efforts on Salem and Dharmapuri, two districts in Tamil Nadu where cotton and cotton seed is grown. Salem and Dharmapuri have around 4,3 million inhabitants of which 1,2 million are children. Families in the selected districts largely depend on agriculture and normally cultivate less than two hectares. Growing cotton and cotton seed is a capital intensive process and farmers typically borrow money to pay for seeds and fertilizer at the beginning of the planning season. However, due to the risk of crop failure, many cotton and cotton seed farmers face economic uncertainty and risk losing their land as collateral for their loans.

Find out even more about the project and how it started.

Learn more about the society and culture in Tamil Nadu.