Improved lives for millions of people

Since starting in 2013, we and our partners have reached millions of people across the world to create a better future. Below are our completed projects.

Inclusive Societies

Equality

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Project

Providing higher education to refugees in Germany

For refugees arriving in a new country, finding a job is everything. Without a job, the process of building a new life is extremely difficult. However, the process of seeking asylum can take years, a time where most refugees can’t do anything but wait. They can’t work, study or start building new lives in their new country. Together with Kiron Open Higher Education, the H&M Foundation worked to increase access to higher education opportunities for refugees in Germany.
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Project

Investing in social entrepreneurs in Ethiopia

To improve the situation for women and children in Ethiopia, H&M Foundation joined forces with Reach for Change. The project supported local social entrepreneurs that have found new solutions to social problems affecting women and youth. Within the project, Reach for Change identified local social entrepreneurs that had ideas on how to solve the most pressing issues facing women and children in Ethiopia. The entrepreneurs were given seed funding, access to business expertise and networking opportunities in order to grow and develop their initiatives.

Education

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Project

Providing higher education to refugees in Germany

For refugees arriving in a new country, finding a job is everything. Without a job, the process of building a new life is extremely difficult. However, the process of seeking asylum can take years, a time where most refugees can’t do anything but wait. They can’t work, study or start building new lives in their new country. Together with Kiron Open Higher Education, the H&M Foundation worked to increase access to higher education opportunities for refugees in Germany.
Project
Project

Investing in social entrepreneurs in Ethiopia

To improve the situation for women and children in Ethiopia, H&M Foundation joined forces with Reach for Change. The project supported local social entrepreneurs that have found new solutions to social problems affecting women and youth. Within the project, Reach for Change identified local social entrepreneurs that had ideas on how to solve the most pressing issues facing women and children in Ethiopia. The entrepreneurs were given seed funding, access to business expertise and networking opportunities in order to grow and develop their initiatives.
Project
Project

The peace circus – a peace building collaboration with War Child

For over 60 years, Colombia has been in the midst of an internal armed conflict involving various armed groups. The harshness of the Colombian conflict has had intergenerational repercussions, causing violence to be a social phenomenon that has been normalized among citizens, including children. With support from the H&M Foundation, War Child have run a project in the province Putumayo, to break the culture of violence.
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Project

Getting children in West Harlem healthy and ready to learn

16 million children in the US live in poverty, and these children are the most vulnerable when it comes to diagnosing and following up health-related barriers to learning. Easily treatable health issues become a big problem for many of these children; a child who’s been awake all night with an asthma attack can’t focus on math, a child who can’t see the blackboard can’t keep up in spelling.
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Project

Global Program for Education

Children who experience love, proper nutrition and protection in a stimulating environment during early childhood become resilient, learn effectively and can help build strong, safe communities and economies when they reach adulthood. Together with UNICEF, the H&M Foundation ran a global program over six years to invest in a better future for the most vulnerable children through early education and care. A total of 288,000 young children, parents, teachers, and other relevant influencers did directly benefit from the programme.

Water

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Girl in Cambodia
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Access to water and sanitation for vulnerable communities in Cambodia

Access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene improves people’s health which leads to lower health care costs. It also improves school attendance among children, especially for girls, which means more children have improved chances to complete their education. In this project, the H&M Foundation supported Plan International in their work in the remote province Ratanakiri in northern Cambodia, contributing to sustainable access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene, with a special focus on girls.
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Project

Improving living conditions in low income communities in Bangladesh

Banglabazar is one of thousands of low income communities that have cropped up next to factories in Bangladesh in recent years. Living conditions in these communities are poor, not least in relation to water, sanitation and hygiene. H&M Foundation and WaterAid have started this project to improve the wellbeing and living conditions for approximately 10,600 residents in Banglabazar. This was achieved by improving the access to water, sanitation and hygiene in the targeted communities.

Planet