Gender Equality Uganda Project #24191

SANITARY TOWELS FOR GIRLS IN RURAL SCHOOLS

by Joy for Children-Uganda

Project Report | Dec 5, 2017
MENSTRUAL HYGIENE AND TRAINING ON RESUSABLE SANITARY PADS

By Kankya Blaise | Volunteer

Date: Saturday, 2^nd December, 2017

Venue: NYATUNGO CHILD CENTRE –KYENJOJO DISTRICT.

This training was facilitated by two employees of Joy For Children Uganda. The dual are experienced in working with communities and schools on issues concerning hygiene and sanitation especially menstrual hygiene.

The training was held at Nyatungo Childhood Development Centre (CDC), Kyenjojo District. The centre looks after vulnerable children from the age of three years up to the time the child is a grown up to take care of him or herself.

The training aimed at skilling school-going girls in adopting the use of Re-usable sanitary pads using locally available materials as a way of enhancing girl-child education as well as promoting the retention and participation of the girl child at school. The training was also aimed at creating awareness on menstrual hygiene since dealing with such a challenge requires one to have accurate and adequate information. In most of our communities, menstruation is considered more of a private matter. Sometimes, Menstruation is seen as a taboo by traditionalists yet it is a real life situation affecting girls and women on a monthly basis.

Over 75 pupils (girls and boys) and their care givers participated.

The workshop was guided by the following objectives:

Objectives of the Training

1. Enhancing menstrual hygiene in schools.

2. Promoting girl child education.

3. Reducing stigma and building self-esteem among primary school girls.

4. Enhancing parent’s skills in handling challenges that are faced by girls at school.

5. Equipping pupils with skills in making sanitary pads using locally available materials.

6. Equipping the men and boys to also participate in empowering a girl child through supporting them during their menstruation.

Joy for Children Uganda team trained both boys and girls and with their parents.

The workshop started with training both for both the parents and children.

The topics discussed were;

Menstrual hygiene and management.
Personal hygiene.
Water and sanitation.
Training of sanitary towels.

Both parents and their children were able to get all the knowledge and skills on the above mentioned topics.

Throughout the training group discussions were made and every one was given chance to freely share their thoughts in reference to the topics being discussed.

Lessons learnt.

It is very possible for Boys and men (male caregivers) to participate in promoting menstrual hygiene management.
With active participation of both female and male participants, Nyatungo Child centre can prioritise menstrual management when budgeting for secured funds from the annual Child Development centre operational budget; an initiative to promote girls’ attendance and retention at school.

Joy for children has supported the training of students, parents and management committees which has fostered improved knowledge and skills to make reusable sanitary pads.

Boys and fathers have are changing their attitude towards supporting girls rather than teasing them when they are in their menstrual periods.

Both male and female parents have been trained. Knowledge attained will be transferred to their children (boys and girls) in breaking the silence on menstruation. Through this training, adolescent boys and their fathers have learnt how to break the silence on taboos that surround girl’s menstrual management.

Nyantugo Child Development Centre has learnt the importance of having separate and hygienic sanitary facilities for both boys and girls at the centre.

Girls and their mothers have learnt how to manage their painful periods through drinking warm water and doing exercises on their bodies as one way to help them get relief.

Both girls and mothers learnt how to number their menstrual periods’ days which will help them to always keep prepared.

Boys, girls, fathers and mothers have learnt how to make reusable sanitary pads. In addition, they have also been enlightened on the kind of materials they ought to use to make a smart, soft and comfortable re-usable sanitary pad.

Both female and male parents have been sensitised on the necessities that a girl child ought to have when she starts her menstruation for purposes of maintaining menstrual hygiene.

Girls and female parents have also learnt importance of bathing regularly for purposes of promoting personal hygiene, especially during menstruation.

Challenges

Nyantugo Child Development Centre faces a challenge of scarcity of water during the dry season. .

Recommendations

Trust building through friendly conversations is needed to help sustain interest of both boys and girls to learn more about menstruation.

Engaging more men and boys in promoting menstrual hygiene management should start with their sensitisation so as to to break taboos that surround the subject.

Attachments:

CDC_REPORT.pdf (PDF)

1 Attachment

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Sep 27, 2017
MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLY OF SANITARY PADS IN SCHOOLS OF MUGUSU SUB COUNTY

By PHIONA KABAHUBYA | Project Manager

In July, 2017, the Project Manager and the staff of JFCU-Fort Portal trained girls in MENSTRUAL MANAGEMENT and supplied REUSABLE SANITARY PADS in schools of Mugusu Sub County, Kabarole District. This sub county was selected because of many local reports that girls’ absenteeism in upper primary of Uganda’s rural schools was on the increase which the organization associated with poor menstrual hygiene.

In response to this concern, JFCU organized a training workshop on Menstrual Hygiene. The training was conducted in a workshop that was conducted at Magunga Primary School, a school on the slopes of Mt. Rwenzori. Teachers of this school requested that parents and their daughters first get trained in making reusable sanitary pads using available local materials like clothes.

The training spun on the following objectives:

to enable the participants gain skills of handling challenges that face teenage girls face during menstruation;
to create menstrual hygiene awareness among parents and teenagers in Mugusu Sub county;
to demystify cultural beliefs and taboos associated with menstruation and
to equip participants with skills in making Reusable Menstrual Pads (RUMPs).

The participatory approach was applied by facilitators so as to give participants the opportunity to have hands-on experience in making RUMPS. Among the participants, was the Head teacher, Magunga Primary School, who not only commissioned the workshop but also sensitized other participants on the value of the skill they were about to acquire.

The facilitators enlightened the participants on reproductive health. It was agreed upon, with several examples that individual reproductive health needs differ at every stage of life. In this regard, men were encouraged to get actively involved in reproductive health matters of people in the homes especially their daughters.

The facilitators guided the participants to share knowledge on matters related to the menstrual cycle, infections related to the reproductive tract, health risks caused by some sanitary products and materials and the basics of menstrual hygiene. Participants were divided into groups of ten people as a way of fostering their participation. Group leaders later shared their findings in form of presentations.

During the workshop, menstrual hygiene challenges girls and women identified were: embarrassment in public, high cost of pads, fear and shame of buying pads, abuse from boys, fear to disclose the state of beginning menstrual periods, rushes caused by sanitary pads, school absenteeism, stomach pains, lack of knickers, lack of money to buy pads, excessive bleeding, bad smell from blood, neglect of parents, and poor academic performance due to low concentration during menstruation periods.

In the same way, participants identified the impact menstrual hygiene can have on girls’ and women’s education, work, family life and general wellbeing as: school dropout, missing lessons, early marriage, early pregnancy, psychological torture and low output.

To crown it all, the facilitators enlightened the participants on the menstrual hygiene challenges girls face by associating them with the “Cycle of Neglect”. The cycle was illustrated as follows:

Lack of involvement in decision-making; Lack of information and awareness; Lack of access to products and facilities; Lack of social support; and finally, Impact on education

In the effort to promote menstrual hygiene management in Mugusu Sub County, JFCU has registered the following achievements: most girls in primary schools can make reusable sanitary pads;

teenage girls’ absenteeism in primary schools of the sub county has been reduced;
schools in the sub county have been provided with tools like pairs of scissors, needles and thread to use in the making of reusable sanitary pads;
some schools like Magunga Primary School and Kiboha Primary School have integrated the making of reusable sanitary pads into Integrated Production Skills’ (IPS) lessons; and
senior women teachers in the primary schools of the sub county have been retooled with effective ways to promoting menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls.

Despite the above achievements, JFCU still faces a number of challenges like:

Limited funds to expand the project to all sub counties of Kabarole district;
Limited funds to conduct more training workshops for girls and women in Mugusu sub county on the making of reusable sanitary pads;
limited materials to supply in schools; and
some schools still lack washrooms where adolescent girls can tidy themselves up and change sanitary pads during menstrual periods.

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