The project will work in under resource communities in Bamenda, to mobilize and organize economically disadvantaged in/out of school adolescent girls' (8-17) and women (18+) into 5 Self Help Groups mini-factories (each with 50 members) to locally manufacture and distribute their own high-quality feminine hygiene products to secure their own livelihoods and address menstruation-related absenteeism and trauma. It aims to provide menstrual hygiene education and empowerment for vulnerable girls.
Over 10M Cameroonian women currently experience menstrual cycle, and each of them needs at least 1 pack of 10 sanitary pads, valued at US$1 every month. However, because over 70% of Cameroon's population lives on less than a dollar a day, it is virtually impossible for vulnerable women to afford a consistent supply of pads at current pricing and distribution channels. Poor girls miss education and are subjected to judgement, exclusion and disgrace by a society that view menstruation as a crime.
This project will organize In/Out of school adolescent girls and young women in 5 Self-Help Groups and provide training on how to make and use reusable menstrual pads, business and production skills training, "business in a bag" marketing and brand support, with the use of locally sourced affordable non toxic materials. It will also hosts women's and girl's health and advocacy workshops, which are safe spaces for women and girls to discuss issues affecting them and access reliable information.
A set up of a Self Help Group reusable pads workshop in Bamenda guarantees that a minimum of 50 women are employed 10hrs/day, access to reproductive health information, trained in small business management and can generate their own income (100,000/= per month an opportunity to earn they didn't have before). Up to 7,000 women and girls in the surrounding communities of a Self Help Group pads workshop will access monthly an affordable and reusable sanitary products and menstrual hygiene services.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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