CULTURE

Beyoncé Is Partnering with Gucci and UNICEF to Bring Clean Water to Burundi

They’re building 80 wells for more than 120,000 people.


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Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

It’s World Water Day, and Beyoncé and Gucci are celebrating with meaningful action: On Thursday, WWD reported the singer and fashion label announced a partnership to bring clean water to the African country of Burundi, where almost half the population cannot access it. In honor of the freshwater awareness day, Gucci donated $1 million to Beyoncé’s BeyGood4Burundi initiative, which she founded last year with UNICEF to “help bring safe water to the most vulnerable women and children in the ‘Heart of Africa.'” Gucci’s donation, according to WWD, will help construct 80 wells that will provide clean water to more than 120,000 more people.

“Gucci and Chime for Change are proud to stand with Beyoncé and Unicef to help change the lives of hundreds of thousands of girls and women in Burundi,” said Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri in a statement to WWD. “Through our commitment to BeyGood4Burundi, we continue the mission of Chime for Change to provide education, health and justice to girls and women globally.”

Back in 2013, Beyoncé, Gucci, and Salma Hayek founded Chime for Change to “promote gender equality” with “innovative approaches.” The campaign’s most recent initiatives include #LeveltheLaw, a pledge to stand with activists fighting laws that discriminate against women and #SheDecides, a movement urging countries to support women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Although clean water is important for everyone, Chime for Change is taking a special interest because a lack of access can be especially damaging to girls, according to the BeyGood4Burundi website. Access to safe water means girls won’t have to risk being attacked to walk long distances for water, can go to school instead of spending time collecting safe water, and won’t have to skip class when they get their periods if their schools have clean toilets.

As of World Water Day, WWD reported, BeyGood4Burundi has already completed 35 wells and is on track to provide 366,000 people with clean water by 2020.

Related: Gucci Is Donating $500,000 to the March for Our Lives