Menstrual Dignity for Refugee Women

Two for the price of one. Buy one, get one free. Two birds with one stone. No matter how you phrase it, there is something so satisfying about accomplishing multiple goals at once. That's why Days for Girls was so excited when the Uganda team came up with an innovative win-win strategy for supporting refugee girls to gain access to DfG Kits & Health Education, while also supporting DfG Micro-Enterprises to get out and practice their marketing and awareness raising skills. The Uganda Team is embarking on a series of "Market Activations".

Market Activations will pair a Micro-Enterprise member with a DfG Trainer to go out into the market and engage girls and women in conversations around menstruation, and providing sample DfG Pods. A DfG Pod is 1 Shield and 2 Liners - the basic components that make up the "pad." Girls & women will agree to be contacted for follow up visits where they can report on how the DfG Pod is working for them, and whether they would be interested in buying more or recommending to their friends. 

The Team has already begun testing and refining this model in a series of "Market Days", where they have collected valuable feedback and data from the people approached. On average, each team member was able to talk to 7 people per hour, with a sales rate of 1 DfG Pod sold per 14 people talked to. Further, 70% of those approached indicated that they would like to buy a DfG Pod, but did not have the money immediately available. Upon return visits, many of these customers did follow through with their plans to purchase the DfG Pod - showing that awareness raising is a critical first step in convincing people about the product value.

With the lessons fresh in our minds, the Market Activations will officially kick off in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, where the Angel's Care Micro-Enterprise is operating. This structure is beneficial not only because it will empower the Micro-Enterprise with lasting skills for community engagement, but it will also meet the girls & women where they are and allow them time to talk one-on-one about their more pressing women's health questions. As always, these Market Activations will also provide ample opportunity for learning, so that the DfG Team can continue improving the program, new activities, and engagement strategies and to share these lessons around the world. 

Stay tuned for stories from our Market Activations!

"It wasn't always easy, but it was an incredible period of growth and joy". Bekah reflects back on her year developing monitoring & evaluation tools with the Days for Girls team in the Uganda office. Although few things sound as dry and boring as "data" or "monitoring", this is in many ways the crux of menstrual hygiene work around the globe. Why? Because there are so many testimonies and anecdotes to show the incredible impact that menstrual hygiene resoures, or lack thereof, can have on a girl or woman's life, and yet little adequate data to support this in the eyes of major stakeholders such as governments, donor organizations, and other major decision makers. In particular, the challenges that refugee women face in particular are even less studied, and perhaps even more pressing. 

As you have read in our previous reports, we've had two tremendous opportunities to support refugee women with menstrual hygiene resources - through the development of a Micro-Enterprise in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement in western Uganda, and through a large scale distribution of DfG Kits in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement, also in western Uganda. Interacting with the women and men who made these projects possible has been life changing for the entire team, and it has taken us to an exciting new point in our project: evaluation. While we are ready to drive full speed ahead towards more impact and more girls reached, we also value the importance of taking stock of where we are, what has been achieved, and where we can improve. 

Through the efforts that Bekah lead over this past year, we now have a set of unique monitoring & evaluation tools that are giving us important data about the program results. For instance, because of these tools, we know that Angels Care Micro-Enterprise, in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, has already sold 45 DfG Kits since the last reporting period - and plans to increase this number substantially following our Micro-Enterprise Support Workshop. With these tools, we also have the ability to travel back to Kyangwali in a few months to measure how many girls are still using their DfG Kits and what the impact has been. These basic statistics can paint a powerful picture of what is happening - and what still needs to be done, both by DfG and the larger menstrual hygiene management community. Now, that is something to celebrate!