Improved lives for millions of people

Through partnerships with experienced organisations, the H&M Foundation has operated globally for systemic change with transformative programs, and in country specific projects to directly address human needs. Our work has been focused on Equality, Education, Water and Planet. 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.

Equality

2018 — 2019 Project

Re-connecting families with REFUNITE

Reaching offline, illiterate, and marginalized refugee populations with vital information is often a challenge. Using a tech-enabled approach the H&M Foundation and REFUNITE joined forces to reach some of the most disconnected refugee societies in the world.

2017 — 2019 Project

Integration of unaccompanied minors in Sweden

Together with The Swedish Red Cross, H&M Foundation was running a project to help refugee children integrate into the Swedish society. The project enabled arrived children between the age of 13 and 25 increased possibilities to integrate into Swedish society by meeting new friends and building social networks.

2017 — 2019 Project

Equipping youth together with Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation

Our partnership with Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation has provided 200 marginalized young people with educational and work experience to increase their opportunities for employment.

2017 — 2019 Project

Supporting refugee children with school supplies

Over half of all refugees are children. When children are forced to flee, they often miss out on years of schooling, which is crucial to help children build better future for themselves and their families. This is why the H&M Foundation and UNHCR joined forces in a project supporting refugee children with the school supplies they need to attend school.

2017 — 2020 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.

2016 — 2019 Project

Building social networks for young refugees in Norway

To prevent marginalisation and polarisation, the H&M Foundation runs a project with The Norwegian Red Cross to connect young refugees with Norwegian youth and support their integration into the Norwegian society.

2016 — 2019 Project

Supporting homeless youth in the UK

Together with five charities H&M Foundation provided homeless youth in the UK with support and training to transform their futures.

2015 — 2018 Project

Empowering female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia

Focusing on women living in the slums of Addis Ababa, our project with CARE in Ethiopia aimed to show that women could significantly improve their lives by becoming entrepreneurs. The results are a great success.

2014 — 2020 Project

Power to grow through mentoring programs

H&M Foundation have had a project with Mentor Sweden with the aim to inspire and help young people in Sweden aged 13-17 to increase their motivation to study and strengthen their self-esteem through mentoring programs with adults. Furthermore, the aim was to strengthen parents in their parental role.

2014 — 2017 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

2017 — 2020 Project

Improving quality of education in Indonesia

In the province of Nusa Teggara Timur, the two districts of Malaka and Belu are among the poorest. Many children are refugees with poor literacy skills. The project CERIA aims to ensure that children have access to child-friendly and non-violent learning environments, focusing on improving reading skills and learning outcomes among young children.

2017 — 2019 Project

Breaking stigma and providing education for children with disabilities in China

In China, children with disabilities often face prejudices. Because of this, the children are hidden and restrained from being part of the society. Together with Save the Children, we worked to change these negative attitudes and making the schools more inclusive.

2017 — 2020 Project

Improving access to basic education for vulnerable children in Romania

Many children in Romania never gain access to education. Poverty combined with the lack of literacy among parents hinder many children from ever going to school. The H&M Foundation and Save the Children joined forces to make sure children have better access to adequate education.

2016 — 2019 Project

Better education and a better future for children in Myanmar

Only 64% of children in Myanmar aged 5-17 years are attending school, leaving over one million children out of school. In addition, improving the quality of education is critical as it is still one of the causes for children to drop out from school. This project aimed to increase the quality of and access to education for marginalized and vulnerable children, aged 5-14 in Myanmar.

2014 — 2019 Project

Holistic child development in Dhaka

About half of all Bangladeshi children are living in poverty with no access to education, making it extremely difficult to reach their full potential. Within this project, our partner UNICEF was using a holistic approach including children, parents and whole communities to get children aged 4-18 years into school, and to prevent them from dropping out.

Water

2017 — 2018 Project

Ensuring safe water access together with FRANK Water

More than 163 million people in India drink unsafe water each day and more than 732 million don’t have a decent toilet. Over 1 million children under 5 years old die every year and almost 1 in 10 of these succumb to diarrhea which is linked to poor water, hygiene and sanitation. In our partnership with FRANK Water almost 10,000 people in Telangana, India were provided with clean water.

2016 — 2020 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.

2013 — 2019 Project

Transforming lives through access to water and sanitation

In the major cities of Bangladesh, poor and commuter communities are deprived of access to toilets as public sanitation is a highly undermined priority in urban life across Bangladesh. Project Sunrise by WaterAid has improved the health, safety and dignity of millions of people, by renovating or building toilets.

Planet

Innovators Hub – an online resource center for fashion

The momentum for a better future of fashion is growing quickly. With support from the H&M Foundation, the non-profit organization Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s Fashion Positive Initiative launched an online resource center for fashion.

2016 — 2020 Project

The Brewery – a biological method to recycle garments

This project is part of the Recycling Revolution program, and explores a biological method to recycle blend textiles.

Shredding the garment in the Garment-2-Garment recycling system.

2016 — 2020 Project

Miniaturized recycling machine to change consumer perception

Recycling old garments is still a fairly new habit, and while the awareness is increasing only a fraction of all textiles disposed are being recycled today. For the fashion industry to become fully circular, there is an urgent need to change people’s perception of old garments and see it as a resource instead of waste. The Mini Mill is a way to let consumers experience recycling live, and understand its possibilities.

Rolled up denim jeans

2016 — 2020 Project

Recycling Revolution – inventing new ways to recycle textiles

Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled our burned. But what is treated as waste, is really the complete opposite. Worn out garments are a valuable resource that can be recycled, redesigned and re-loved. To make this happen at scale, new recycling methods are needed to handle all types of garments and materials. To speed up this process, H&M Foundation joined forces with HKRITA and the outcome looks very promising.

Separated cotton and polyester fibers in the Green Machine

2016 — 2020 Project

Green Machine: recycling blend textiles at scale

Only one year into our partnership with HKRITA, a breakthrough was made when the researchers discovered a hydrothermal process that could fully separate and recycle cotton and polyester blends into new fibres and cellulose powder. Contrary to many other processes, this process is gentle that doesn’t damage the fibres and the quality is therefore intact.