Challenges in "MHM Start-up Project" at a school in Uganda!
BackgroundIn Uganda and other developing countries, there is a problem of girls dropping out of school due to menstruation because they cannot afford sanitary products due to poverty. Furthermore, the lack of proper knowledge about menstruation, hygiene, and sexual education is also a serious problem, as menstruation is not taught to adolescent boys and girls at school or at home due to a cultural background where it is a taboo to mention menstruation. The Creative Infant School in Naguru, one of the slum areas in Kampala (city), Uganda, is very poor despite its urban location, with some children barely eating a enough meal a day. The girls have no knowledge of menstrual hygiene and have no sanitary products. In cooperation with the Visionary Lady Foundation'(VLF), a local organization working at Naguru Primary School, our start-up project was launched to create a tailoring center at school for making reusable sanitary pads, with the aim of preventing girls from dropping out of schools due to menstruation. |
Project Summary◆Location: at Creative Infant School situated in Naguru Slum Kampala. The impetus for starting this project came from Daisy, a representative of the Visionary Lady Foundation (VLF), requested us to create a tailoring center at school for its students and local women. Daisy from VLF had been working with the Nagul Primary School for several years to address issues related to menstruation and established a Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) Club at the school. She trained students on menstrual knowledge and hygiene management. However, due to the lack of materials such as sewing machine and thread, training on reusable sanitary pad making was not available, and most girls were still using old cloth as a substitute. A start-up project was launched by two university students who interned at GBN. They started a crowdfunding campaign as their first challenge to create an environment where both women’s groups and girls in MHM clubs can conduct menstrual hygiene management and make reusable sanitary pads. Crowdfunding: Challenge to MHM start up project in a school in Uganda! This challenge is just a start-up support, but eventually the goal is to continuously produce reusable sanitary pads at schools, distribute the pads to all the girls in the school and other school’s girls in the region, and also to help local women acquire tailoring skills to improve their income. |
