The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Kuwait, in collaboration with the UN Migration Agency celebrated International Women’s Day by pledging their commitment to supporting Kuwait’s Government Shelter for Foreign Workers.
Through this partnership, PwC Kuwait has committed to funding the provision of essential supplies to the shelter’s residents – comprised of female migrant domestic workers who had fled hardship at the hands of their employers. The donation was presented by PwC Kuwait’s Chairman, Khaled Al Shatti and Managing Partner Sherif Shawki, as part of the firm’s commitment to support the country’s ongoing efforts to combat human trafficking and prevent future abuses.
In his comments, Khaled Al Shatti, Partner and Chairman of PwC in Kuwait, noted: “Women all over the world are being celebrated today. We consider women a key part of our diverse and inclusive culture within PwC and hope that through initiatives like these, we are able to shed the light on those whose voices may not always be heard and from all walks of life, many of whom have endured countless hardships over the course of their lives. We are committed to working with the Kuwaiti Government and with International Organizations like UN Migration, whose values align with ours, to bring to light this important matter in the hope for a better future, living and working conditions for women (and men) in Kuwait and beyond.”
For his part, Sherif Shawki, Managing Partner at PwC in Kuwait said: “Supporting and serving the communities in which we live and work is very important to us; so is celebrating diversity and inclusion in all its forms. These are values we try to live by at all levels – at home but also at work. Today, almost 40% of our PwC colleagues across the Middle East are female; that number is up to 50% at the graduate level – we’ve come a long way in our effort to drive gender equality and have further still to go no doubt.”
Recognizing the involvement of more private sector in support of the government-run shelter, Iman Ereiqat, Chief of Mission for UN Migration office in Kuwait, said: “In recent years, women have represented an incrementally larger percentage of overseas contract workers in Kuwait. The Government of Kuwait has made considerable progress in labour mobility management, enhancing protection of migrants’ human rights and actively working to combat trafficking in persons – most notably by establishing the Government Shelter for Foreign Workers in 2014.”
“The Shelter can house up to 500 residents who are provided with accommodation, food, psycho-social support and sustainable exit strategies. The Agency is pleased to scale up the support for the women at the shelter and to get more actors involved,” he said.