UNICEF and H&M Foundation launch new Be Inclusive campaign supporting children with disabilities

GENEVA/NEW YORK/STOCKHOLM, 14 February, 2022: A new global awareness campaign supported by H&M Foundation launches today, focusing on inclusion of the 240 million children around the world who live with disabilities. Regardless of where these children grow up, they are more likely to experience greater difficulties with exclusion and lack of participation than children without disabilities are.

According to the (November 2021) UNICEF Report Seen, Counted, Included. Using data to
shed light on the well-being of children with disabilities, children with disabilities have:

• 49% greater probability of never attending school
• 41% greater probability of being discriminated against
• 51% more likely to feel unhappy

The report advises that the keys to change are increased knowledge, representation and
inclusion.

“Our experience is that children with disabilities experience stigma and discrimination in all parts of life, something that the report also shows. At the same time, we see that the key to changing lives is full inclusion. That requires knowledge and a change in attitudes and behaviors. We all have to take responsibility to actively involve children in issues concerning their lives and their needs”, says Pernilla Baralt, Executive Director of UNICEF Sweden. 

UNICEF and H&M Foundation have worked together since 2014. The first three-year partnership aimed to place early childhood development on the global agenda and help give the most vulnerable and excluded children the best start in life. In 2017, H&M Foundation and UNICEF renewed their commitment, and the foundation invested in UNICEF’s early childhood development programmes, helping to reach more than 145,000 children, parents, teachers and influencers in Timor-Leste, Egypt, Mali and Vietnam. At the same time H&M Foundation also added funds for a programme aimed at giving children with disabilities in Bulgaria, Peru and Uganda access to early childhood development services. 

“Children with disabilities often face prejudices. Through increased inclusion, we hope to change these negative attitudes and transform the lives and futures of thousands of young children with disabilities – helping them reach their full health, happiness, wellbeing and learning ability”, says Diana Amini, Global Manager at H&M Foundation. 

The Be Inclusive campaign launch aligns with the Global Disability Summit taking place in Norway this week, February 14-17, 2022.

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Notes for editors:

About the Be Inclusive campaign
The Be Inclusive campaign's objective is to raise awareness about the importance of inclusion in all parts of society, in order to break stigma and challenge outdated and discriminatory perceptions and biases regarding children with disabilities. The aim is also to empower the world’s nearly 240 million children living with disabilities, and to make parents, teachers, friends and others around those children understand that everyone has a responsibility when it comes to creating a more inclusive world. Preventing prejudice is everyone’s responsibility and the campaign calls for that action.