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“When women gain skills and knowledge, their instinct is to help raise others,” – Guerlain muse Angelina Jolie. UNESCO and Guerlain have launched a state-of-the-art female beekeeping entrepreneurship programme, “Women for Bees.”
This March, Guerlain and UNESCO announced the official launch of “Women for Bees”, a groundbreaking female
beekeeping entrepreneurship program conducted with support from the French Observatory of Apidology (OFA).
Guerlain ambassador Angelina Jolie will be the godmother of the 2021 class and will meet the beekeepers and follow their progress throughout this inaugural year.
Across the globe women are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which multiplies the challenges they
face in their daily lives. As the United Nations has shown, taking action to support gender equality is a pillar of a
more peaceful, more prosperous and more sustainable world.
The Guerlain x UNESCO “Women for Bees” program aims to make a concrete contribution to promoting diversity,
to protecting biodiversity and to inspiring young generations.
The five-year program will be deployed in UNESCO biosphere reserves and train women beekeepers from around
the world to create and manage sustainable apiaries. These femal entrepreneurs will help strengthen local
biodiversity and will in turn cascade their know-how to others.
This stellar initiative will also generate income and improve food security for populations in areas with minimal
agricultural production. The program calls for the creation of 2,500 hives in 25 UNESCO biosphere reserves by
2025, with restocking of 125 million bees.
Angelina Jolie created the MJP Foundation in Cambodia in 2003, which is dedicated to alleviating extreme rural
poverty, protecting the environment and conserving wildlife. The partnership between Angelina Jolie and Guerlain
was born in Cambodia in 2016. “Guerlain have a genuine commitment to the environment, sustainable development
and the communities they work with. That’s what brought us together, and ‘Women for Bees’ is a wonderful
extension of that.”
This program is part of a broad partnership between UNESCO and LVMH luxury.
“This program encourages women to be ‘designers of change’, to create, educate and experiment with sustainable
beekeeping as a way of living on Earth in harmony with other species. Such is the spirit of our commitment to
biodiversity and the purpose of our global partnership with LVMH.” – Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General.
Guerlain has been committed for over 14 years In the Name of Beauty to helping create a more beautiful and more
sustainable world, with the bee as a sentinel. This commitment is motivated by a duty to act and pass on the
wonders of nature to future generations.
“I’m very proud of the Guerlain x UNESCO Women for Bees program, which combines two core pillars of our
Maison, protection of bees and the empowerment of women. Every organization has a role to play to work towards
a more beautiful and responsible world. Guerlain is eager to contribute with both humility and deep conviction.” –
Guerlain Chief Executive Officer Véronique Courtois.
@Guerlain x @UNESCO Women for Bees program
