P & G’S ‘HOPE’ PROGRAM EMPOWERS A RECORD BREAKING: 11695 WOMEN!
Through HOPE, P & G has uplifted 11695 girls between 2018 and 2021. Establishing six vocational training centers across Pakistan already, P & G uses HOPE as an empowering and financially emancipating vessel for Pakistan’s underprivileged. Additionally, the company seeks to inspire other established organizations and corporations to help those in need with their resources.
It goes without saying that Procter & Gamble takes the lead as one of Pakistan’s most renowned and respected consumer goods manufacturing companies. It would be ignorant to deny that every household in the country has been using its products for several decades. Apart from its prominence in markets - both local and international - the company differs from its counterparts, for it’s a company with a purpose. P & G strives to fulfill social responsibility targeting the people of Pakistan; this has been evident from its history of welfare campaigns and initiatives.
Keeping the above vision in mind, P & G recently introduced its HOPE initiative for the country’s underprivileged women. The initiative provides a platform to women unable to support and provide for themselves and their children. Through HOPE, these women receive vocational training to develop their skills and find jobs for themselves.
Hakima Baloch is one such woman who has benefited from HOPE. After her husband passed away, Baloch was unable to feed her kids because she was going through a major financial crisis. HOPE aided her enrollment in stitching classes, whereby she could internalise skills useful in single handedly caring for her kids.
Now, stitching has become a full-time profession for Hakima and she uses her earnings to support her family. She is also able to educate her kids and run her household without being dependent on anybody else.
Even today, Pakistan is infamous across the globe as an underdeveloped country. This means the nation still has a lot of ground to cover before its women can feel cherished, or empowered to say the least. It goes without saying that women are the driving force and the most important aspect for the success of any country. Through HOPE, P & G wants these women to have their heads held high and to view - against popular, patriarchal beliefs- their womanhood as strengths, as opposed to weaknesses.
P & G aims to change this very mindset through #HopeforPakistan so that Pakistani women no longer feel helpless or hopeless in any situation, especially those who lack the means to run their households and feed their families.