Gucci Parfums press-release

Gucci Parfums partners with CHIME FOR CHANGE to support children
and women refugees affected by conflict in Syria and Iraq

Nearly half a million dollars was donated to seven projects

CHIME FOR CHANGE, the innovative global campaign founded by Gucci, promotes Education, Health and Justice for girls and women around the world. In 2014 – its first year of partnership with CHIME FOR CHANGE – Gucci Parfums exceeded its $1 million donation goal, transforming girls’ and women’s lives through more than 80 different projects in 33 countries. Building on last year’s success, in 2015 Gucci Parfums has committed an additional $450,000 to seven projects primarily focused on supporting refugees and internally displaced people in Syria and Iraq. The seven projects meet a variety of immediate and long-term needs, with a particular focus on providing education and health resources to break cycles established by longterm war and oppression.

Grantees and projects include:

• UNICEF₁ to provide educational and psychosocial support for children in Syria, as well as Syrian refugee and host community children in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. Through this work, UNICEF is assisting children to cope with the difficulties and distress faced as a result of the conflict.
• The Free Yezidi Foundation₂ in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, for the development of a post-trauma center for girls and women fleeing conflicts, and a center for children most affected by the violence perpetrated against the Yezidi people.
• The Women’s Refugee Commission₃ for their work to improve livelihoods and protect the rights of women, children and youth displaced by conflict and crisis.
• Water for Kurdistan, supporting clean drinking water, boots and clothes for women and children living in refugee camps in Iraq.₄
• A 5-day CHIME FOR CHANGE journalism training workshop in partnership with the AFP Foundation and coached by CHIME Managing Editor Mariane Pearl, empowering 12 Yezidi and Christian women to share their stories.₅ Those stories will be published on chimeforchange.org in the coming weeks.
• MADRE₆ to provide urgent care to Syrian refugee women and girls suffering rape, forced marriage and displacement. MADRE delivers food, medical supplies and contraception to refugees and trains women to document and call for prosecution of rape as a weapon of war.

Separate from the projects in Syria and Iraq, Gucci Parfums additionally partnered with The Perfume Shop, the UK and Ireland’s largest fragrance retailer, to allocate $80,000 by donating a portion of every Gucci fragrance sale from October-December 2014. These funds will support the Alzheimer’s Research UK project₇, led by Dr. Jo Barnes at University College London, to assist in developing brain imaging techniques for earlier diagnosis of dementia—the leading cause of death in women in the UK.

By supporting these CHIME FOR CHANGE projects, Gucci Parfums is demonstrating a deep commitment to meaningful, lasting change, and engaging their consumers in promoting girls’ and women’s empowerment.

The Organizations:

₁The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to put children first. UNICEF has helped save more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization, by providing health care and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more.
₂The Free Yezidi Foundation is establishing a post-trauma center for Yezidi women and girls who have escaped from terrorists and a children’s center for those worst affected by
the attempted genocide of the Yezidi people in Northern Iraq.
₃The Women’s Refugee Commission improves humanitarian assistance programs for women and children who have been forced to flee their homes due to violence, persecution, or natural disasters by advocating for their specific needs to be included. The Women’s Refugee Commission is solely dedicated to improving the lives of refugee women and protecting their right to sexual and reproductive health care, to an environment free from sexual and gender-based violence, and to economic and social empowerment.
₄Water for Kurdistan, is supporting clean drinking water, boots and clothes for women and children living in refugee camps in Iraq.
₅The AFP Foundation is a non-profit organization set up to promote freedom of expression through training of journalists in developing countries.
₆MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization, works in partnership with community-based women’s groups worldwide facing war and disaster. MADRE advances women’s rights by meeting urgent needs in communities and building lasting solutions to the crisis women face.
₇Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading dementia research charity, and is committed to improving diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the condition.