By Elizabeth Corley | Senior Director, Communications
Dear Friends,
I am pleased to update you on the progress of our ongoing campaign to raise COVID-19 relief funds for women-led organizations around the globe. Your generous donations have provided communities with opportunities to improve women’s mental health, provide rural populations better access to resources, and aid grassroots organizations in their unique missions. Here is just one story of how you have made an impact. It comes from one of our partner organizations, the Center for Creative Development Strategies in Nigeria, and highlights a workshop we funded.
The Pad Making Workshop is an activity of the Sustainable Menstrual Project, which addresses period poverty among the underserved and vulnerable girls. Period poverty is when a girl cannot afford good menstrual products, is not adequately exposed to menstrual hygiene education, and lacks basic sanitation infrastructure at home or school. The project conducted the workshop at the Pabod Secondary School in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The school is overcrowded with more than 150 students packed into a single classroom. In addition to the stigma, shame, exclusion, and taboos associated with menstruators, the conventional disposable pads are not affordable for the average girl. Also, conventional disposable pads contain synthetic ingredients, artificial fragrances, chemical gels, residues, adhesives and contributes to environmental pollution. Disposal through flushing, burning, or discarding creates environmental problems.
This activity introduced the concept of environmental sustainability and recommended eco-friendly sanitary pads made from organic materials. The pads are more affordable, healthier, bio-degradable, 100% chemical free, leak proof, washable, reusable, and last more than two years.
The project provided quality organic menstrual hygiene products, facilitated menstrual hygiene education through training, coaching, and mentoring, developed the local economy through the menstrual hygiene value chain, and contributed to environment sustainability. More than 260 students attended the workshop where they gained knowledge about menstruation hygiene and learned how to sew by hand menstrual pads using organic materials. They also learned about opportunities of making pads as a business. Three of the teachers who participated decided to make pads as an additional income stream.
Thank you again for your generous donation. We continue to support women-led organizations around the globe as funds become available, and look forward to sharing more stories with you.
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