HEALTH AND WELL-BEING EMPOWERMENT ZERO DISCRIMINATION CHILDHOOD PROTECTION PARTNERSHIPS
Social Projects
Social Projects
Our sustainable social strategy is based on a thorough and comprehensive holistic assessment of the real needs of the artisans employed in our atelier and focuses on four main issues: health and well-being, artisan empowerment, zero discrimination and childhood protection.
“Made For A Woman made me independent and gave me confidence in myself.
I love learning every day, and that is what we are all about here.”
ZOARY, ARTISAN
Health and well-being
We guarantee our artisans free access to healthcare via health insurance, as well as medications, PPEs, and hygienic supplies, including soap, diapers, and menstrual products.
A doctor is available three times a week for all health needs, as well as for preventative care and screenings for STDs and female cancers, vision, and dental care (80% of employees involved in 2022). Bimonthly checkups are scheduled for all employees: in 2022 we also provided over 100 individual consultations and funding for 3 major surgeries.
Employees have free access to medical spaces, including a breastfeeding area, medical cabinet, and toilets. Contraception and family planning are available and used by 41% of our employees, while over 90% of them participated in awareness campaigns dedicated to STDs prevention, sexual and reproductive health, feminine hygiene, and menstrual health.
Mental health is also a priority, with individual and group therapy sessions, a psychologist, and a social worker available to provide day-to-day support, as well as art therapy, including music and dance sessions every Thursday.
Health and well-being
We guarantee our artisans free access to healthcare via health insurance, as well as medications, PPEs, and hygienic supplies, including soap, diapers, and menstrual products.
A doctor is available three times a week for all health needs, as well as for preventative care and screenings for STDs and female cancers, vision, and dental care (80% of employees involved in 2022). Bimonthly checkups are scheduled for all employees: in 2022 we also provided over 100 individual consultations and funding for 3 major surgeries.
Employees have free access to medical spaces, including a breastfeeding area, medical cabinet, and toilets. Contraception and family planning are available and used by 41% of our employees, while over 90% of them participated in awareness campaigns dedicated to STDs prevention, sexual and reproductive health, feminine hygiene, and menstrual health.
Mental health is also a priority, with individual and group therapy sessions, a psychologist, and a social worker available to provide day-to-day support, as well as art therapy, including music and dance sessions every Thursday.
Our empowerment projects aim at improving life choices and opportunities for all artisans, implementing proactive and transformative policies so that they have the chance to develop and achieve all their potential.
We want to ensure that our atelier is a place of learning, growing, and self-expression: since many of our artisans have no basic education, with 30% being illiterate, we believe it crucial to offer them as many opportunities as we can, articulated around three main areas: finance, education, and leadership.
This includes literacy classes, language courses, IT classes, professional capacity building, advanced crochet courses (lace and embroidery), entrepreneurship and leadership, financial literacy and more.
Our goal is to involve 100% of employees to promote their personal development as well as building career opportunities for them within the atelier.
Our empowerment projects aim at improving life choices and opportunities for all artisans, implementing proactive and transformative policies so that they have the chance to develop and achieve all their potential.
We want to ensure that our atelier is a place of learning, growing, and self-expression: since many of our artisans have no basic education, with 30% being illiterate, we believe it crucial to offer them as many opportunities as we can, articulated around three main areas: finance, education, and leadership.
This includes literacy classes, language courses, IT classes, professional capacity building, advanced crochet courses (lace and embroidery), entrepreneurship and leadership, financial literacy and more.
Our goal is to involve 100% of employees to promote their personal development as well as building career opportunities for them within the atelier.
Zero discrimination
We implement a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment and discrimination, as well as having a crisis unit available to provide support to women in at-risk situations.
Our team is able to support women by providing them with access to social services and legal advice if needed.
We work with several NGOs, the UN Women’s WEP initiative, and the Malagasy government and Ministries to achieve our goals of ending violence and promoting gender equality, and 91 women are currently employed in our atelier following our partnerships with these organizations. We also aim at improving the artisans’ quality of life in their homes, putting in place a crisis unit that is able to act quickly in cases of domestic and gender-based violence, and a series of awareness campaigns to tackle GBV in the communities where our artisans live.
Zero discrimination
We implement a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment and discrimination, as well as having a crisis unit available to provide support to women in at-risk situations.
Our team is able to support women by providing them with access to social services and legal advice if needed.
We work with several NGOs, the UN Women’s WEP initiative, and the Malagasy government and Ministries to achieve our goals of ending violence and promoting gender equality, and 91 women are currently employed in our atelier following our partnerships with these organizations. We also aim at improving the artisans’ quality of life in their homes, putting in place a crisis unit that is able to act quickly in cases of domestic and gender-based violence, and a series of awareness campaigns to tackle GBV in the communities where our artisans live.
Childhood protection
We want to take care of the citizens of the future, children, through an educational space where we provide them a well-balanced education, sustainable routines for healthy development, awareness campaigns on nutrition and hygiene, and free access to healthcare.
Our goal is to provide a well-balanced education that will enable children to become empowered and productive citizens in the future. Our kindergarten welcomes 40 to 50 children daily, who benefit from the same services as their parents: free healthcare, education, and protection from at-risk environments. All children of our artisans over 5 years of age are now involved in school and all children with health or behavioral issues are receiving proper care.
This also increases employee loyalty and performance, as mothers are able to come to work with their children, instead of choosing between a career and taking care of their family.
Childhood protection
We want to take care of the citizens of the future, children, through an educational space where we provide them a well-balanced education, sustainable routines for healthy development, awareness campaigns on nutrition and hygiene, and free access to healthcare.
Our goal is to provide a well-balanced education that will enable children to become empowered and productive citizens in the future. Our kindergarten welcomes 40 to 50 children daily, who benefit from the same services as their parents: free healthcare, education, and protection from at-risk environments. All children of our artisans over 5 years of age are now involved in school and all children with health or behavioral issues are receiving proper care.
This also increases employee loyalty and performance, as mothers are able to come to work with their children, instead of choosing between a career and taking care of their family.
Partnerships
Working with people from marginalized backgrounds requires a lot of coordinated and proactive actions that have to be sustainable, scalable, and able to adapt to a variety of different situations.
Building partnerships with different organizations in the private and public sector allows us to provide more opportunities to our employees and to integrate our social strategy within all aspects of our production and management processes, making our actions more effective and sustainable. At the same time, this kind of collaboration allows for a positive exchange of skills, know-how and strategies with a variety of partners and stakeholders, consolidating our impact and acting as a role model for the country and the industry as a whole.
We currently work with several local NGOs, with the Malagasy Ministries of Health, Environment, Women Empowerment and the Population on a wide range of projects to support and empower women and advance gender equality.
In 2023, we signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles developed by UN Women, offering guidance on how to advance gender equality and women empowerment in the workplace, marketplace, and communities.
We have also joined the NEST network, a nonprofit supporting the responsible growth and creative engagement of artisans, to further enhance and scale our growth and impact.
91 women are currently involved in our partnerships ; our goal is to increase that total to over 300 over the next 2 years.
Partnerships
Working with people from marginalized backgrounds requires a lot of coordinated and proactive actions that have to be sustainable, scalable, and able to adapt to a variety of different situations.
Building partnerships with different organizations in the private and public sector allows us to provide more opportunities to our employees and to integrate our social strategy within all aspects of our production and management processes, making our actions more effective and sustainable. At the same time, this kind of collaboration allows for a positive exchange of skills, know-how and strategies with a variety of partners and stakeholders, consolidating our impact and acting as a role model for the country and the industry as a whole.
We currently work with several local NGOs, with the Malagasy Ministries of Health, Environment, Women Empowerment and the Population on a wide range of projects to support and empower women and advance gender equality.
In 2023, we signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles developed by UN Women, offering guidance on how to advance gender equality and women empowerment in the workplace, marketplace, and communities.
We have also joined the NEST network, a nonprofit supporting the responsible growth and creative engagement of artisans, to further enhance and scale our growth and impact.
91 women are currently involved in our partnerships ; our goal is to increase that total to over 300 over the next 2 years.
“It is an honor to be able to work with Made For A Woman,
because we share the same goals. We would love to continue
this collaboration and involve more women in the future.”
Miantsasoa Mickaella Rivoniaina, SISAL