P&G Joins Force With Global Citizen and National Geographic to Combat Social Challenges with ‘ACTIVATE’ Series

Leading manufacturer of consumer goods in Nigeria, Procter & Gamble recently hosted the screening of the sixth episode of the series, ACTIVATE, in commemoration of Global Hand Washing Day, to promote sanitation, hand washing and clean water in Nigeria. The pre-screening of the documentary’s finale was held at the Transcorp Hilton hotel, in Abuja.

The event, which was attended by notable stakeholders, was under the distinguished chairmanship of the Honorable Minister of Water Resources, Engineer Suleiman Adamu, and served as a call to action for other global practices designed to create awareness and solutions for effective, sustainable change around the world. .

The ACTIVATE series – bolstered by custom content distributed across National Geographic’s unrivaled social, digital, linear and print channels – has its core focus on global challenges associated with extreme poverty, inequality and sustainability issues to mobilize people across the world to drive meaningful and lasting change. The six-part documentary series explores on-going major advocacy campaigns aimed to impact marginalized people in the world and is available on National Geographic in 172 countries and 43 languages.

L-R: Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Water Resources; Mrs. Kenechukwu Offie; Director, Government Relations and Policy, P&G Africa, Temitope Iluyemi; Honourable Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu; Africa Director, Global Citizen, Chebet Chikumbu; Mrs. Chizoma Opara, Assistant Director (Sanitation)/Acting Coordinator Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign; at the exclusive screening of ACTIVATE series, a documentary sponsored by Procter & Gamble in partnership with Global Citizen and National Geographic held at Abuja.

During his Keynote Address the Honourable Minister of Water Resources, Engineer Suleiman Adamu, said, “We need to prioritize hand washing and sanitation issues in Nigeria as it has enormous benefits for not just our environment but also improves quality of lives greatly. I have to commend P&G and its partners for this wonderful collaborative imitative and the assured support for such programs over the years. The Ministry of Water Resources wholly supports their effort and will continue to lend its voices in ways that are impactful.”

Commenting at the screening, the Director, Global Relations and Public Policty, P&G Africa, Temitope Iluyemi said, “At P&G, we are concerned with not just improving the well being of people directly through the quality of our products, but also believe strongly in impacting the lives of the people who live in the countries we operate. The Activate series is one of Procter & Gamble’s numerous demonstrations that people are at the forefront of why we do what we do. Our goal is to promote a global culture and raise awareness of the benefits of hand washing with soap Safe guarding our environment requires collective effort and we are happy to champion this cause and encourage as many people that are willing, to spread the message. ACTIVATE is the result of people going out there to do the work.”

Speaking on the strategic partnership to mobilize global action, the Africa Director, Global Citizen, Chebet Chikumbu said; “From Mexico to Philippines to South Africa and Nigeria, global citizens fighting inequality and extreme poverty in a variety of ways. The ACTIVATE series is a tool for empowerment for players involved on different scales. We are empowering the poor by amplifying their voices and providing them a platform to tell their stories. As these stories are transmitted, we are also empowering the recipients of these messages to go out into the world to make a lasting change, motivated and inspired by the stories they have heard.”

In 2008, the initiative to promote sanitation through hand washing was launched with a Global Hand washing Day (GHD), and it is now celebrated every year on October 15. Following this, P&G Nigeria has also kick started another water based initiative, 'STOP THE GERMS, NOT THE KIDS', in partnership with Safeguard to promote hand washing amongst kids in Nigeria.