Saniya foundation is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization with a mission to provide accessibility to education, leadership and economic Independence to Women and girls in Ethiopia by empowering them to reach their full potential. One of our main program is the "The Daraaraa Project" addressing the need of sanitary pads. The girls will be provided with enough sanitary pads to last them a whole school year so that their health and education do not suffer.
In Ethiopia as many as 75% for girls and women have no access to sanitary pads. This problem is not unique to Ethiopia, this is the case for many African countries. This disrupts the lives of girls and women in many ways. The most important and damaging part of this issues is school girls who had to miss school because of lack of sanitary pads. The available data put the number school days missed as one out of 10 days and in rural areas it can be up to 5 days. That has a negative impact.
Saniya Foundation made this one of its core program to solve this issue within our capacity. The Daraaraa Project will provide school girls year long supplies of sanitary pads so that they can stay in school. We will also be providing basic health classes so that the girls and women can take better care of their bodies. We will work to de-stigmatize periods and many issues concerning these women and girls from their cultural perspective by providing them safe space.
The potential long-term impact for the program is to increase the graduation rate of girls as well as their overall health. The women who benefit from this program will have a better social network, a job and self-esteem. We understand educating girls are the solution to lift society out of poverty and to empower the next generation of women.
