Beauty giant Lancôme’s latest global campaign is all about empowering young women all over the world. Locally, the campaign aims to uplift high-potential young women through digital education.
Lancôme’s ‘Write Your Future’ Initiative Unlocks Potential In South African Women
Launching in 2017, the Lancôme Write Your Future is the luxury beauty brand’s social responsibility program. The campaign has empowered over 150,000 young women worldwide.
Many of these women have been the beneficiaries of the Write Your Future Scholarship Fund and other learning, entrepreneurship and mentorship programmes funded by Lancôme.
From a South African standpoint, a pilot project spearheads the campaign. Launched in Mashite, Limpopo on 20 September, the project has plans to roll out countrywide over the next few years. With a focus on uplifting promising women aged 18-25 through digital education, the Write Your Future is being delivered in partnership with Social Coding.
Social Coding is a non-profit organization (NPO) founded in 2017 whose mission is about bridging the digital divide.
How exactly?
By using digital literacy and technology tools to expand socioeconomic inclusion among young people living in rural communities. With these toolsfeaturing (coding, robotics, and virtual reality (VR), the NPO also helps them use these digital skills to break the cycle of poverty and build successful careers.
“We prioritise digital inclusion so that young people from rural areas can have a better chance of completing their schooling, furthering their education and gaining access to meaningful work.”
Thembiso Magajana, Founder of Social Coding
Magajana adds that Social Coding is committed to ensuring that every young person, regardless of their background or circumstances, has the chance to learn, grow and thrive in the digital age.
A Digital Divide Crisis
While the Western world may have become more digitised, the same cannot be said for the whole of South Africa. In fact, the digital divide remains a serious crisis within the country. According to the 2022 JCSE-IITPSA ICT Skills Survey, South Africa faces a critical shortage of ICT skills. This poses a significant threat to the country’s ability to enjoy the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The survey, conducted annually by Wits University’s Joburg Centre for Software Engineering and the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa, found that the digital skills gap is still so large that organizations are struggling to fill tens of thousands of vacancies.
Critically, this means that a large cohort of South Africa’s youth is unable to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the digital economy.
With the Write Your Future campaign, these issues can be addressed, and this works to form part of L’Oréal South Africa’s broader sustainability programme.
“With Write Your Future, we will be working with Social Coding to identify the specific needs of young women in rural communities around the country and to provide them with both the digital education and support they need to realise their full potential.
As around 38% of households in South Africa are headed by women, there will be a very real impact for communities and society as a whole.”
Yumnaa Waja, General Manager of L’Oréal South Africa’s Luxury Products Division
By bridging one of the main barriers preventing South African youth from becoming active, engaged, productive and independent citizens, Write Your Future works to empower South African women to pen their own destinies.
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