Challenge

Every minute, in the poorest countries of the world, a woman dies due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth. These tragedies are largely preventable. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have made these issues a priority through a Global Strategy for Women and Children Health but progress has not been fast enough.

Journey

We worked with artist Elisabetta Farina to envision and create, together with the World Health Organization (WHO), a cause-related campaign: Women Create Life (WCL). The project merges art, design and consumer markets to generate global awareness and resources for women’s and children’s health. It builds on the power of artistic creativity, the call for innovative financing for health and recognition that global development hinges upon the health of women and their children. WCL partnered with a range of brand-name designers and companies, such as Moleskine, to integrate the WCL logo and commissioned images for a range of products. After a campaign launch in 2007, a 2008 Christie’s auction in Rome set the campaign in motion.

Impact

• A series of over 60 portraits of women were produced from around the world portraying how women create and nurture the conditions for life around the world
• We expanded WCL’s product range by engaging various business partners and strengthened the reach of its messages while supporting continuous improvement of the WCL’s strategy and business plan
• We engaged consumers to be part of the solution: A percentage of every sale of WCL products was invested in maternal and child health programs through identified non-profits around the world

Additional Resources:

Art for health and WCL at the World Health Organization

WCL partnerships with Moleskine

UN Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health

About Elisabetta Farina