UNICEF and Clé de Peau Beauté reach 3 million girls with Skills4Girls education programme
Clé de Peau Beauté, a luxury beauty brand, and UNICEF have reported that their collaborative initiative has reached over three million girls globally in its first year. The effort is part of their renewed partnership to support education, employment, and empowerment for girls, with a target to impact 5.7 million girls by 2025.
The partnership is centred around the Skills4Girls initiative, which addresses gender disparities in the global workforce. Data indicate that one in four girls aged 15–19 years is neither employed nor in education or training, a rate significantly higher than that for boys of the same age.
Skills4Girls focuses on providing STEM education to girls to prepare them for the digital components prevalent in over 90% of today’s jobs.
Carla Haddad Mardini, UNICEF Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships, commented:
"Over 90% of jobs worldwide have a digital component, but options remain limited or non-existent for girls, especially adolescent girls, in these male-dominated fields. We are thrilled to see such significant progress made in bridging the STEM gender gap in only the first year of our renewed partnership with Clé de Peau Beauté, and we look forward to continuing our work together to empower the next generation of girls,"
The initiative, which began in 2019 and was renewed in 2023, aims to reach girls in multiple countries including Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Namibia, Niger, Peru, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam by 2025.
Representatives from both UNICEF and Clé de Peau Beauté, including the brand's Chief Brand Officer, Mizuki Hashimoto, visited Bangladesh to assess the programme's direct impact.
Hashimoto shared her experience from the visit:
"All of us at Clé de Peau Beauté are so proud to see our partnership with UNICEF making such a positive impact on the lives of girls across Bangladesh. It truly was a thought-provoking experience. Our support for the National Curriculum and Textbook Board is transforming the educational system on a national level through redesigned, gender-responsive, skills-based curricula and textbooks that are equipping students for the 21st century.
"It was also so inspiring to see our work supporting the most vulnerable out-of-school girls who are being empowered by Skills4Girls initiatives, gaining the skills they need to support themselves, their families and their communities. All of this successful work affirms our commitment to education as the key to a better world."
Since 2019, Clé de Peau Beauté has committed the world's largest private sector contribution of US$17.4 million to UNICEF's Gender Equality Programme. This funding is part of the brand's global Cause-Related Marketing Campaign, where US$3 from every purchase of The Serum, one of the brand's best-selling products, is directed towards UNICEF's efforts on the ground.
The visit also featured interactions with Skills4Girls graduates, including a young woman who benefited from the computer training courses. She shared her journey: "Since childhood, I aspired to learn computer skills, but financial constraints halted my education.
“Thanks to the Skills4Girls computer training course, I've gained diverse skills and am now working as a trainer myself. I've shattered the belief that girls can't excel because we can achieve anything. No boundaries can confine me now."
