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Community Engagement

Community Engagement

Community Engagement

 

At Kimberly-Clark, we believe in uplifting our communities, serving in ways we are uniquely able to deliver. As a company, we are working toward our aspiration to advance the well-being of 1 billion people in underserved communities around the world by 2030. Through the reach of our brands and brand-led advocacy, social impact programs and partnerships, and investments in the communities where our employees live and work, we aim to exemplify our purpose to deliver Better Care for a Better World. We endeavor to direct our collective efforts where the needs are greatest and leverage our strengths, our brands and our capabilities as a leader in health and hygiene.

Further, we anchor to three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) – Good Health and Well-being, Gender Equality, and Clean Water and Sanitation, with an emphasis on driving meaningful and sustainable change in the focus areas of women’s and girls’ empowerment, access to sanitation, and infant health.

Our commitment to these three focus areas comes to life through strategic charitable investments from the Kimberly-Clark Foundation, brand-led initiatives, product donations, and employee engagement in volunteerism and charitable giving.

Examples of these efforts include Toilets Change Lives, Kotex’s #SheCan initiative, and Huggies No Baby Unhugged – three longstanding programs that have impacted millions of lives globally since their inception.

Foundation and Charitable Giving

Through strategic partnerships and long-term investments, the Kimberly-Clark Foundation partners with global non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) and local nonprofits to help deliver meaningful and sustainable change in line with our social impact strategy, focusing on maternal and infant health, women’s and girls’ empowerment and access to clean water, safe sanitation, and hygiene. Its goal is driving systems change in communities around the world for generations to come. To learn more about our social programs, disaster relief efforts and employee programs, visit the Kimberly-Clark Foundation page.

Key Areas of Impact

Empowering women and girls

All over the world, women are disproportionately affected by gender inequality. Our education programs aim to improve the knowledge of menstrual hygiene management, supporting our belief that a period should never get in the way of a woman’s progress. Stress and unnecessary shame around menstrual health and hygiene or incontinence should never get in the way of passions. At Kimberly-Clark, we aim to inspire confidence in every aspect of femininity. Our feminine care brands are trusted by millions of women all over the world to do just that.

Access to Sanitation

At Kimberly-Clark we champion a world where all enjoy access to clean water and sanitation. Partnerships with NGOs such as the Toilet Board Coalition provide resources to underserved communities across the globe. In 2023, in support of our commitment to help provide access to safe water and sanitation, along with our Toilets Change Lives program, our Latin American Team supported the first Latin American cohort for the Toilet Board Coalition Accelerator for Sanitation Economy Businesses. Six Kimberly-Clark mentors volunteered their time and expertise to guide three small sanitation businesses in Peru and Honduras focused on helping to solve the sanitation crisis in the region.

Infant Health

Through Huggies Healthcare, we partner with hospitals, maternal healthcare professionals and families to deliver innovative products for newborns. In 2023, Huggies partnered with the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses to create the new Respectful Maternity Care Framework and Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline. The first-of-its-kind resource on respectful nursing care provides evidence-based approaches that can help reduce disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality outcomes and support birthing women and their families as they safely prepare for birth, postpartum recovery, and begin breastfeeding and parenting.

Community Engagement

Being part of a caring culture is foundational to who we are at Kimberly-Clark. We believe that our community engagement activities strengthen the communities where we operate, enhance our reputation, bolster our brand as an employer, and drive engagement and goodwill among our employees. We are continuously inspired by our employees’ community engagement, which is why we are honored to give back and support the communities where our employees live and work.

To learn more, visit our latest Sustainability Report.

Published June 2024