P&G advances its partnership with government and communities in public-private partnership with government

Procter & Gamble South Africa (P&G) has cemented its commitment to promote social development in the country by working closely with Government. Last month, it signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Social Development, allowing the two parties to jointly implement initiatives to bolster the social development of women and youth, and to work together on technical and capacity building programmes. The MoU supports the already-strong relationship between the two entities, and provides a formal framework for future work based on shared values. It further demonstrates P&G’s commitment to work together with the public sector to uplift communities and assist in socio-economic development in the country.

“P&G is committed to investing in South Africa by being a force for good and a force for growth. This agreement shows our intent to partner with Government, not only as we expand our economic footprint, but also represents our citizenship work and our aim to impact the communities where we live and work,” says Mangi Mudau, senior director at P&G.

Acting social development director-general, Linton Mchunu, added that “the department is honoured to join forces with Procter and Gamble to advance socio-economic development in South Africa, especially for children, women and vulnerable groups.”

The company and department will partner in several areas of shared values including promoting menstrual hygiene, water sanitation, and hygiene and skills development programmes for women-owned businesses. P&G and the Social Development Department will also conduct community outreach awareness programmes to combat toxic masculinity among young boys, shift current social norms in favour of the girl-child and recognise menstrual hygiene management and women’s rights in general.

P&G acknowledges Government’s achievements in social development, particularly at this difficult time of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is therefore committed to being a strong economic and social partner to South Africa, providing over 4,000 direct and indirect jobs through its value chain. The company’s citizenship programmes are touching the lives of over 1,5 million South Africans.

Some of these initiatives include:

- The Always Keeping Girls in School and Always school programme providing puberty education and sanitary pads to girls to prevent gaps in their education.
- In partnership with WEConnect, P&G upskills women-owned businesses, integrating them into the supply chain.
- In 2021, the company launched its WeSeeEqual programme in SA, focusing on building an inclusive business environment for women, and committing to triple its spend on women-owned businesses in the next three years.
- The P&G Protect Our Heroes mission provided a humanitarian package of over R16m to support the Government to combat Covid-19.
- After the July 2021 unrest, P&G launched project #Siyakhakabusha, donating over 10,000 essential care packages, while providing R15m to renovate five schools in KZN.
- P&G has donated R1.5m worth of TV airtime to support government’s vaccination programme enabling the South African population to reach herd immunity as soon as possible.
- At the recent 4th SA Investment Conference, P&G announced the expansion of its manufacturing capabilities with the local production of Ariel detergents.
- In 2019, the company invested R300m into the local production of Always Sanitary pads.

P&G looks forward to a progressive relationship with the Department of Social Development and the South African Government. The company hopes that the success of the partnership will provide an example to other private entities proving that by working together with the public sector, the country can achieve a lot more.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.