Diageo, one of the world's leading beverage enterprises, recently announced the launch of the Diageo Plan W Fund along with its partner, the China Women's Development Foundation, at a ceremony in Beijing.

The fund will support women in China by providing a wide range of learning opportunities to improve their social and economic status.

Diageo China plans to donate 1 million yuan ($163,000) to the fund every year over the next five years, directly and indirectly benefiting an estimated 100,000 women across China.

Diageo will work with the CWDF to design and implement training and employment programs to support Chinese women in need. During the first year of the program, the fund will provide vocational training to 1,000 women in Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces.

In addition, printed and online training resources will reach a broader audience. It is estimated that about 20,000 women will benefit from this initiative every year.

According to a 2010 survey by the Chinese Women's Research Society, unemployed women, migrant women, landless women farmworkers and single moms make up the majority of "the new poor".

The fund will target such groups to address these shortcomings and have a positive impact across communities.

"Diageo has long been committed to supporting local communities in China," says Lin Menuhin, corporate relations director of Diageo Greater China. "We hope that the fund will provide women across China with similar opportunities to grow."

The fund is part of Diageo Asia-Pacific's $10 million regional initiative, Plan W, which aims to empower 2 million women through learning across 17 Asia-Pacific countries by 2017.

"Diageo's Plan W initiative recognizes the socioeconomic potential that women represent, and we are confident that our five-year partnership will help many Chinese women acquire the skills they need to achieve more fulfilling and rewarding lives," says Qin Guoying, secretary-general of the China Women's Development Foundation.

liuxiangrui@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA07/02/2013 page10)