We are fully committed to transparency as we continue our journey towards helping a million people thrive by 2030 and will provide updates on our progress as we achieve milestones along the way. That’s our promise to you, our consumers.

Our ambition is that our work is rooted in impact and underpinned by important NGO partnerships.

Partnerships with humanitarian experts, like CARE (registered charity number 292506), who know how to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives and have been doing so for decades.

But what do we mean by helping someone ‘thrive’? Well, let’s dust off the dictionary and go from there. The definition of ‘thrive’, according to Cambridge Dictionary, is ‘to grow, develop, or be successful’. Our promise is that we’ll only count someone towards our pledge target if we believe that we have helped them prosper in some way, only then would we consider them to be one of the people that we helped to thrive.

One of the projects we support is the Women for Change Village Savings and Loans Associations program (VSLA) where we’re helping 150,000* people thrive. As a result of this important work, we estimate that over half a million other people will also thrive^. That includes family members in the households of women who benefit from the financial empowerment resulting from the VSLA program.

A ripple effect in motion.

You might be asking, ‘what is a Village Savings and Loan Association program?’, and it’s a good question. In a nutshell, our VSLA program aims to increase gender equity in households and communities, while supporting increased savings, improved skills, income growth and diversification, improved school enrollment rates and improved nutrition. The scheme also aims to shift social norms and reduce gender-based violence by engaging men to encourage joint saving and decision-making. The women-centered approach of the VSLA program aims to create sustainable change for farmers and their households by investing in women’s empowerment.

Credit image : CARE

We’ve also helped 50,000 cocoa farmers in Indonesia with farming assistance. Cocoa coaching aimed at helping farmers maximise the amount of cocoa they can grow (and sell!), all while reducing their total costs.

For now, just enjoy your Galaxy® treat knowing that it was made by Mars Wrigley, a company that has committed to help a million people thrive. Because we’re making chocolate better, one piece at a time.

Galaxy® is proud to be a Mars brand. Mars makes long-term financial commitments to Care which are not dependent on product sales.

* VSLA 2020-2025 = 90K people (75% women) directly impacted + **360K family members impacted (4 per household) = 450K

*VSLA 2026-2030 = 60K people (75% women) directly impacted + **240K family members impacted (4 per household) = 300K

^ This is based on an estimate of five members per household in both Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire (the main VSLA program beneficiary plus an additional four household members), where members of the household refer to people who are living under the same roof and therefore also likely to benefit from the VSLA member’s participation in the VSLA. Research conducted by KIT (Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands) includes additional information on cocoa farming household sizes (data from 2018): Bymolt, R., Laven, A., Tyszler, M. (2018). Demystifying the cocoa sector in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, available online at Demystifying the Cocoa Sector in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire - KIT Royal Tropical Institute (see, e.g., Chapter 3 (Respondent and household demographics), page 43 (estimating that the mean household size was 5.77 members in Ghana and 6.79 members in Côte d’Ivoire))