Life Opportunities

Empowering women and young people through health and education

According to the UN, gender inequality remains a major barrier to human development and it is a proven fact that educating girls has a positive multiplier effect on their wider communities. A large part of the workforce in tea is comprised of women and we want to ensure that they live healthy, protected, empowered lives. That is why we are committed to gender equality and to empowering women and young people in our supply chain through health and education.

11,318

women & girls took part in life skills development initiatives

46,153

women & girls reached by initiatives to improve their health

17,199

children supported through health and education initiatives

Meet Irene

Irene is a mother of three who has worked as a tea plucker for more than 10 years. Irene decided that she could not afford any more children, nor would it be good for her health, but her husband would not allow her to use birth control. In Kenya, we help increase health awareness and access to health services for women on tea gardens.

“I now live happily with my husband thanks to HERhealth”.

Meet Minakshi

Minakshi is a 13-year-old girl living on a tea estate in Assam. When she was 10 she was forced to leave school and become a maid in a nearby household, meaning that she was missing out on both education and childhood, until the Child Protection Committee (CPC) stepped in. These CPCs were set up as part of our project with UNICEF to create a protective environment for adolescent girls on tea estates in Assam.

Meet Xiao

Xiao is a young mother who lives in a tea growing region in rural Yunnan, China. Xiao has a little girl who was frequently sick as a baby. Xiao’s village was part of our Child Health project with Save the Children in Yunnan, and she participated in several of the health awareness sessions run by the village doctor. She now feels that she has a better understanding of how to take good care of her little girl who does not get sick as often anymore.