During the holiday season 2015, H&M ran a campaign where customers contributed to a brighter future for children in Myanmar when purchasing a H&M gift card. For every gift card bought H&M Foundation made a donation to UNICEF – which resulted in a total of 4.9 million euro.
The donation benefitted marginalized and vulnerable children in the states of Rakhine, Kayah, Kachin, and Mon as well as Hlaingthayar township, an industrial zone in Yangon. The children got increased access to school and improved quality of education. Children were also benefitted indirectly through the strengthening of State, District and Township Education Improvement Plans. In addition, out of school children were able to access primary and post-primary education through non-formal education initiatives. This included education for children in camps. Thousands of children in Myanmar are refugees within their own country and live in temporary camps, where there are no formal education opportunities after Grade 5.
UNICEF worked on multiple levels to influence changes in policy, in education management and in schools and communities. Children benefitted from improved quality in primary and lower secondary school education, as UNICEF built teacher capacity through training, for example in teaching methods. Child friendly school clubs were also formed and run in collaboration with parents and community members. School clubs are attractive to children because they are fun, relevant and help build skills.
Children who are out of school were reached by non-formal education to catch up on what they have missed and be able to access education and build a better future for themselves. The project provided textbooks, salaries of volunteer teachers, support to parents and systems for taking exams.
