Walmart Foundation Announces $10 Million in Grants for Women In Factories Program

BEIJING, Nov. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today in Beijing, the Walmart Foundation announced grants for the Women in Factories program, bringing the total investment by the Walmart Foundation to more than $10 million over five years. The program, launched in 2011, is on track to meet its goal of reaching 60,000 women working in 150 factories in India, Bangladesh, China, El Salvador, and Honduras by the end of 2016. To date, more than 40,000 female factory line workers have been trained by the program and received the skills needed to be successful in the workplace, at home and in their communities. 

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Scott Price, CEO Walmart Asia and executive vice president of international strategy and business development, announced the grants and progress of the Women in Factories program during a high-level roundtable discussion with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and chief executive officers of multinational companies attending the 2014 APEC CEO Summit in Beijing.

"We want to help empower women around the world through this training that teaches critical work and life skills, because we are committed to the communities and people in our supply chain," said Price. "We are investing in our global communities by making this training available to any factory or organization who wants it."

Price also announced details of a Women in Factories curriculum, developed by CARE with funding from the Walmart Foundation, which will soon be available to any factory or organization interested in providing job readiness and life skills training to its workers. By making this curriculum available at no cost, the training will enable greater impact by reaching more workers throughout the global supply chain. Among the modules are financial planning, health and wellness, time management, career development and leadership. The curriculum is open sourced with both foundational training and advanced training modules.

The curriculum has been adapted for each of the countries where the program is operating. Implementation partners include CARE in Bangladesh; BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) in China; Swasti Health Resource Center in India; and World Vision in El Salvador and Honduras.  The evaluation of the Women in Factories program is being conducted by Tufts University under the leadership of Dr. Drusilla Brown.

"We have been honored to partner with the Walmart Foundation on the Women in Factories program and to develop a curriculum that can change the lives of women around the world," said Jeremy Prepscius, Vice President, Asia-Pacific, BSR (Business for Social Responsibility).

The Women in Factories program is part of the larger Walmart Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative (WEE) that aims to train nearly one million women, increase sourcing from women, and in doing so improve the lives of underserved women.  The WEE initiative is focused on three areas:

• Sourcing: Walmart will source $20 billion from women-owned businesses for its U.S. business and double their sourcing from women for its international markets. Walmart has also launched a dedicated women-owned product marketplace on Walmart.com called "Empowering Women Together." 
• Training: Walmart and the Walmart Foundation will empower nearly one million women through farmer training, factory training, retail training and U.S. career opportunities programs.
• Diversity and Inclusion: Walmart will engage its supplier networks, including professional service firms, merchandise suppliers and global accounts, to promote diversity and inclusion within their teams that support Walmart and Sam's Club.

Since its launch, the WEE initiative has helped provide job training, market access and career opportunities to women across the globe. In addition, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have contributed more than $79 million in grants toward programs to empower women.

Empowering women is a global necessity and Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are working towards goals to help provide women with the resources they need to succeed. More than a billion people live in poverty worldwide and approximately 70 percent of them are women. Through job training and market access, Walmart is able to help women live better and provide them with access to the economic opportunity they deserve. 

To learn more about Walmart's commitment, visit corporate.walmart.com/women.

About Philanthropy at Walmart

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are committed to helping people live better through philanthropic efforts that draw on the strengths of Walmart in the arenas of sustainability, economic opportunity, and community. As part of our commitment to creating a more sustainable food system worldwide, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are leading the fight against hunger in the United States. They recently exceeded a $2 billion goal to fight hunger one year ahead of schedule and have donated more than 1.5 billion pounds of food to those in need across the country. To learn more about Walmart's giving, visit http://www.foundation.walmart.com/

About Walmart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better -- anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, more than 250 million customers and members visit our 11,053 stores under 71 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2014 sales of over $473 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.

CONTACT: Raymond Bracy, Telephone  +86-755-2151-1131

SOURCE Walmart Asia

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