Our projects within Inclusive Societies
The traditional way of working funding bilateral projects with one partner, one theme and a set of clear goals has shown to be too simplistic if we want to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. As a donor, we need to use our role better and stop asking our partners for siloed interventions. Social challenges don’t exist in silos but in complex systems, and the solutions must mirror that.
Because, building toilets and providing clean water in schools is not always enough. What if the children are malnourished, there are no teachers and the girls need to help with family needs at home? It’s an illustrative example, but paints the picture of what we are trying to change. Working towards systems change entails inviting all actors – from communities and authorities to businesses and development agencies. It requires working to address taboos, social norms and cultural beliefs. It requires solid cooperation. And it requires patience since results won’t come fast, but when they start to show, they are long-term from the ground up.
Inventing next practise together
To create inclusive societies for all, failing established systems need to radically change. But systems change is too complex for any actor to tackle alone – it requires broad cross-sector collaboration. So instead of looking for best practise in siloes, we have started working in ecosystems together with different individuals, organizations, businesses, and academia.
Working with systems change is like a chess board, every move rearranges the playing field, and there are no clear road maps for the best way ahead. We prototype together, try, fail, learn, and try again until solutions with the power to make a difference can be shared and scaled.
Inclusive Societies projects and news
Backing women garment workers in Bangladesh
Backing Women Garment Workers
The H&M Foundation is running a long-term project to support women garment workers in Bangladesh. Initially, focus has been on minimizing the negative impacts on the women and their families of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a second step, H&M Foundation is preparing the women for a future where the textile industry is defined by automation and digitalization. The aim is to create new job opportunities for the women and safeguard their livelihoods.
Changing perceptions – from seamstress to robot operator
Though the majority of garment workers in Bangladesh are women, less than one percent has a leadership role. Furthermore, women are less represented than men in the more sophisticated machine operation roles. Ingrained stereotypes and attitudes are part of the problem, where Bangladeshi women are not perceived – by others and themselves – as capable of taking on more advanced roles. In our project with the BBC Media Action, we are investigating if, and how, we can change the perceptions to make sure women will still have a job in the future as the garment industry transitions to automation and digitalisation.
Futureproofing the female workforce in Bangladesh
As automation and digital technology is making its way into the textile industry, women’s jobs are at risk. That’s why we work with BRAC and The Asia Foundation to run “STITCH for RMG Global Innovation Challenge”. It’s an international, virtual competition aimed at sourcing tech-based innovations to spur positive impact on women employed within the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh.
Equipping a new generation of garment workers in Bangladesh
Facing the increasing use of automation and digitalization within the garment industry, there is an urgent need to create a skilled female workforce to save jobs and create new job opportunities. By developing video game-based skill trainings, our partner Shimmy Technologies worked to upskill women garment workers, increasing their opportunities to become multi-machine operators and digital design workers.
Meet the innovators who are improving gender equality on the factory floor
We are proud to announce the six winners of “STITCH for RMG Global Innovation Challenge”! As automation and digital technology is making its way into the textile industry in Bangladesh, women’s jobs are at risk. Meet the six winners who are working to futureproof the female workforce in Bangladesh.
In Solidarity with waste pickers in India
In Solidarity with Waste Pickers
Saamuhika Shakti is a first-of-its-kind intitiative by H&M Foundation to improve the quality of life for waste pickers in Bengaluru, India. Waste picking ranks lowest in the hierarchy of urban informal occupations in the country, but are at the same time critical to the city’s waste management system. Through a powerful ecosystem of partners, we aim to address the broken systems that keep waste pickers in poverty and build resilient systemic change. Working together will result in lasting impact at a scale beyond what any actor could achieve alone.
Shifting attitudes of waste pickers
In India, where there is no organised waste management system, waste pickers play a crucial role. Without them, the country would literally drown in waste. However, despite their key role in the society, waste pickers endure daily harassments, rank lowest in the hierarchy of informal occupations and experience low self-esteem. Together with our partner BBC Media Action, we are working to change the perceptions of the waste picking community.
Using innovation to push social change
“Techtonic – Innovations in Waste Management” is a nationwide challenge in India to identify and curate locally designed, disruptive innovations addressing problems in waste management and improving the livelihoods of waste pickers. India, by virtue of its population size, generates the most waste in the world. How can we create value out of all this waste and move the needle towards a circular economy? Is there also a way to support the heroes of waste management – the informal waste picker community?
Wanted: Ideas rethinking waste management in India
Together with Social Alpha and JSW Foundation we’re looking for solutions in waste management, that can move the needle towards a circular economy in India, while enabling social inclusion for informal waste pickers of Bengaluru.
Shifting power relations through our new eco-systems approach
Since 2020, we’re piloting a brand-new strategy to create Inclusive Societies, aiming to invent next practice for systems change and ensuring equity for the long-term. By using Collective Impact, we are now two years into facilitating cross-sectoral ecosystems and building holistic programs that look at the broader needs of marginalized groups in India and Bangladesh.
Education, Equality and Water
Supporting young children with disabilities with UNICEF
During the earliest years of life, love, good nutrition, protection, and stimulating activities such as play, singing and early learning give young children the best possible chance of reaching healthy brain development. Yet, millions of young children around the world, in particular those with disabilities, are deprived of these critical experiences and are growing up in unsafe and unstimulating environments.
Global Program for Education
Singing songs. Painting pictures. Building with colourful bricks. Evidence shows that the activities that sound like pure fun are the building blocks of lifelong learning. 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 invests in a better future for the most vulnerable children through early education and care.
Global Program for Equality
Women and girls around the world are disproportionately affected by poverty and discrimination. In all regions, women spend at least twice as much time as men on unpaid domestic work, but are often not allowed to make decisions that affect their own lives. Women from the poorest communities worldwide reveal enormous potential. Despite difficult circumstances, they can successfully change their own – and their family’s – future. Through H&M Foundation’s global program with CARE, almost 270,000 women have been supported. The success of the women has been astounding, with their daily enterprise earnings increasing by an average of 91% across all countries.
Protecting migrant children on their move in Europe
In the past few years, Europe has received large number of migrants. Many of the migrants are children who come to Europe without their parents or caretakers. Life for these children are anything but safe or simple, and many disappear. Together with Missing Children Europe, the H&M Foundation aim to protect and support these children, in their struggle to build a new life in a new country.
Global Program for Water
Across the world, women are forced to waste precious time walking long distances to collect dirty water. Girls are dropping out of school because there are no private toilets, and young children are not surviving to see their fifth birthday because of preventable diseases. The lack of clean drinking water and functioning toilets affects the lives of millions of people. More than 10% of the world’s population still live without safe water to drink and must drink water that can make them sick, and one in three live without a decent toilet. In the Global Program for Water, the H&M Foundation together with WaterAid, work to change this.