Real fragrance

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

: Swedish cosmetic giant Oriflame has announced a mega charity initiative to sponsor the education of 1,000 girls for a period of three years. Called the ‘Oriflame Girl Child’, the project, launched in partnership with Delhi-based child welfare organisation Deepalaya, will primarily facilitate the education of girls in the age bracket of 4 to 17 years. The direct selling company has allocated Rs 2.7 crore to the NGO for the project.

Tomas Eriksson, managing director, Oriflame India, says the project is “much more than just education”. He adds: “What is more important is the investment made on a girl child. We believe that any investment made in the education of a girl translates directly into better healthcare, poverty reduction and enhanced socio-economic performance of the family. Education for the girl in the family has wide ranging impact on the family in the first place, and human survival and development in the long run.” Eriksson says that the new project is “an attempt to spread the message that a community’s development is incomplete without the education of its girls. Says he: “Through this, we aim to lead the girls towards the path of education and bring out their latent talent.”

Oriflame already runs a number of similar child welfare programmes across the countries it operates in. Its international initiatives range from dedicated projects for slum children in Russia to orphans in Latvia. In India, educating the girl child is the company’s thrust area. Taking into consideration the fact that India has the maximum number of illiterate children in the world — about two-thirds of them girls — the company thought about a programme directed at the girl child.

Oriflame has been working on the project for the last couple of months. After deciding what it should do, the company approached Deepalaya. Says T K Mathew, secretary and CEO, Deepalaya: “It was indeed great to become the first choice of a corporate like Oriflame in its noble project. In a way, the latest project, besides supporting our cause, is a compliment for us too.”