FOR International Women’s Day, diamond jeweller De Beers Group has announced the extension of their partnership with WomEng, the global social enterprise focuses on engaging and developing girls and women for the engineering and technology industries.
For the next three years, the partnership will support women and girls to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers in sustainability-related fields within the four countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Canada) where De Beers discovers diamonds.
By 2030, De Beers together with WomEng wants to reach its goal of 10,000 girls and women in STEM as part of the jeweller’s Building Forever sustainability goals. In its original three-year partnership, they focused on developing skills such as leadership, innovation, well-being, and employability for women and girls in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.
In these countries, they reached more than 2,200 students by the end of 2021 through a GirlEng programme for girls and a Fellowship programme for women studying STEM degrees at university.
De Beers Group partnership with WomEng
For the new three-year extension, the two partners will expand its programmes to Canada and the UK and put greater focus on topics such as sustainable development, renewable energies, and climate solutions.
The partnership will support women-founded engineering and technology businesses in De Beers’ host countries that are especially focused on tackling crucial sustainability challenges.
De Beers will also introduce the WomEng’s Emerging Leader Programme within its own business to support, retain, and promote women in STEM roles in order to achieve gender parity across its international workforce, which is part of the brand’s UN women HeforShe Alliance commitment.
by Julie Heinisch