Hain Celestial personal care brands partner with CARE

THE Hain Celestial Group Inc. Personal Care Brands Alba Botanica, Avalon Organics, and Jason will serve as founding partners to the Empower Her through Education campaign as part of its three-year charitable commitment to leading humanitarian organization CARE®, which aims to fight global poverty.

 

The Empower Her through Education campaign is a multibrand movement that hopes to eliminate barriers to the education of young women such as violence, hunger, child marriage, and repressive ideological beliefs against women in developing countries. Alba Botanica, Avalon Organics, and Jason support programs that reflect each brand's core values and address education barriers on an individual, relational, and structural level. 

 

Alba Botanica will focus on Girl Power, where each program will use education to encourage girls to succeed and lead. This year, the brand will support CARE programs such as the Udaan School program in India that provides broad education and leadership opportunities to adolescent girls in impoverished regions. It will also support Educan, a program in Honduras for improving community health through nutrition and proper hygiene education for parents and children. The program also aims to empower women through microfinance groups with training in business and marketing. 

 

Under the advocacy for equal education for marginalized girls around the world, the Avalon Organics brand will support policy changes providing accessible education for girls of all backgrounds. The brand’s efforts this year will cover CARE's bilingual and intercultural programs in Peru and Cambodia. These programs help address the language barrier to education for girls belonging to minority ethnic groups.

 

In line with efforts to empower mothers and communities globally, the Jason brand will support programs such as CARE's Mothers Groups in Malawi and Rwanda's Early Childhood Developmental Program. The first is an advocacy and support system that promotes equitable distribution of chores between boys and girls. The second ensures a safe and healthy learning environment for children by providing them with balanced meals and other necessities.

 

The growing number of child marriages is creating an education problem for millions of girls worldwide. In 2010, more than 67 million girls aged between 20 and 24 were married as children. The number could rise to 142 million girls in developing countries entering child marriages between 2010 and 2020. In addition to reduced chance of completing their education, child brides face a greater risk of physical abuse, contracting HIV and other diseases, and dying while pregnant or giving birth. 

 

According to CARE president and CEO Dr. Helene D. Gayle, "Education can transform the lives of girls, women, and whole communities.  It can fuel real progress on a large scale—reducing violence, poverty, and inequality. Research has shown that 31 million girls worldwide are unable to obtain a proper education and a child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5.  In fact, a woman's earnings should be 10% to 20% higher for every year of school completed."  

 

"As a leading organic and natural products company providing consumers with A Healthier Way of LifeTM, we are inspired by this opportunity to help improve the lives of girls and women across the globe through the elimination of education barriers. It is essential to address the educational obstacles that affect millions of impoverished women. They are the most at risk, and they have the most power to break the cycle of poverty in their families and their communities," said Julie Marchant-Houle, general manager of Personal Care at Hain Celestial.