4 ways Cummins Powers Women is making a difference in the world
As the world marks International Day of the Girl today (Oct. 11, 2019), here’s a quick update on the Cummins Powers Women program and how it’s contributing to the advancement of women and girls around the world.
The initiative has already touched thousands of lives since it was launched by the company on March 8, 2018, International Women’s Day.
1. IMPACTFUL PARTNERSHIPS
As of July 2019, the Cummins Powers Women program had served more than 54,000 people through a network of expert nonprofit organizations, including Girls Inc., Rosa Fund, Save the Children, the China Women’s Development Foundation, Rise Up, Camfed (the Campaign for Female Education), CARE Australia and Girls Academy. Cummins is investing in these groups and engaging with them directly, careful not to get in the way of what they do best.
2. A GLOBAL APPROACH
Cummins has a long history of community engagement, dating back to the company's founding in 1919. Cummins Powers Women, however, is the company's most ambitious community initiative ever, representing an $11 million investment in proven programs designed to create large-scale impact in the lives of women and girls globally. The initiative focuses on areas where significant barriers exist to the advancement of girls and women in communities where the company has a presence. As of July 2019, the program had issued 60 advocacy grants in six regions of the world.
3. INCREASING VOLUNTEERISM
The program has struck a chord with many employees, exceeding the company's most optimistic hopes when it launched Cummins Powers Women 18 months ago. The global partners in the program have seen more than 120% increase in volunteerism from Cummins employees since Cummins Powers Women was unveiled in 2018.
4. EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE
In 2019, the company established the Cummins Powers Women ambassador program to supplement the successful leadership engagement already underway. Interested employees were invited to be ambassadors to learn about the complex array of challenges facing women and girls globally and how they could promote gender equality by volunteering in their communities.
More than 1,000 employees across 32 countries, including men and women, signed up for the ambassador program between May and July 2019. The ambassadors learn about issues such as the potential societal benefits to maternal employment and the gender pay gap, as well as how to discuss these matters effectively with friends and family.
As part of its International Day of the Girl activities, the company invited the children of Cummins' more than 60,000 employees to draw pictures of the women who inspire them as a way for families to talk about gender equality. Children as young as four years old from around the world submitted drawings like the one above and the one below.
What’s next for Cummins Powers Women? One thing is for sure, the program is off to a fast start as the company lives its mission to make people’s lives better by powering a more prosperous world.