Providing young women in Uganda with the tools and training to manage their menstrual health, stay in school and thrive in the workforce.
Providing young women in Uganda with the tools and training to manage their menstrual health, stay in school and thrive in the workforce.
In Uganda, young women on average miss 8-24 school days per-year during their periods, due to a lack of sanitary products, menstrual education and safe bathroom facilities. This causes them to fall behind in school, underperform on exams, and become disadvantaged in the labor market.
In partnership with Real Action for Community Empowerment Uganda (RACE) and Days for Girls International, TEL is tackling the many challenges that young women face during menstruation. Race and TEL have teamed up with students to perform a needs assesment and co-design female hygiene and WASH solutions, aiming to create healthier learning environments where young women have access to the support, health products and facilities they need to stay in school and succeed.
The program consists of three components: a social enterprise to manufacture reusable sanitary pads, a faculty-supported curricula to teach menstrual hygiene management to female students and health awareness to male students; and a community-supported effort to provide clean water and sanitation facilities to schools and surrounding community members.
After identifying two rural schools with high rates of absenteeism among women, TEL designed qualitative surveys and multi-stakeholder focus group discussions in order for RACE to conduct in-depth needs assessments, while also encouraging students to put forth their own vision for a healthier menstrual hygiene management program. Based on the results of the qualitative surveys and focus group discussions, TEL identified appropriate interventions and menstrual hygiene management practices to incorporate into the program. Among these is an effective, do-it-yourself intervention to create reusable menstrual pads. This component of the program is designed in partnership with Days for Girls International, a nonprofit organization that has supplied menstrual-pad kits and health education to more than one million women and girls in over 100 countries.
Additionally, the schools required a safe and clean bathroom facilities in order for girls to be able to appropriately manage their menstrual helath. In June 2019, construction of new ventilated pit latrines was completed at both schools with active Her Health, Her Future co-ed education clubs. TEL is currently working with RACE to cunduct a mixed methods program evaluation to ensure we are meeting project objectives while simultaneously tailoring the program to student and community needs, with the first year of eculuation being completed in January 2020.
Having already provided more than 100 young women in Jinja with health education and training to create reusable menstrual pads, TEL and its local partners are able to continue this work through 2019 with generous support from the Conservation, Food & Health Foundation, the International Foundation, and the American Tower Foundation.
With the success we have had so far we hope of reaching a younger village with extremely low school retention and literacy rates. RACE has been in contact with this community for some time and has identified a potential partner school. With the ongoing evaluation of our current program acting as a base for furture work, we are eager to fundraise and scale to this new community.
Additionally, with the rural and remote locations of our parnter schools, we have encountered other challenges that go beyond our current work. Energy access in Butembe (one of our partner schools) is of particular concern. Seeing that TEL is uniquely positioned to carry out a needs assesment and technology evaluation for off-grid energy solutions and, having recently performed a similar analysis in Haiti. We are currently seeking opportunities to implement the appropriate off-grid energy solutions for these students.
Location: Jinja District, Uganda
Launch date: November 2016
Beneficiaries: 1050
Real Action for Community Empowerment (RACE)
Her Health, Her Future is the focus project for our 2019 Giving Tuesday campaign! Check out this video to see the RACE team describe the project in their own words!
Click each image for more information.
Students at Mupumudde High School complete the surveys about the Her Health, Her Future project.
Students at Mupumudde High School complete the surveys about the Her Health, Her Future project
Students at Mupumudde High School demonstrate the steps involved in making reusable sanitary pads.
Students at Mupumudde High School demonstrate the steps involved in making reusable sanitary pads.
Students at Mupumudde High School demonstrate the steps involved in making reusable sanitary pads.
Students at Butembe Senior Secondary school with the RACE team.
Students at Butembe Senior Secondary school complete the midpoint survey for Her Health, Her Future.
Students at Butembe Senior Secondary school cut cloth to make reusable sanitary pads.
Members of the Daily Della team with their production line.
Members of the Daily Della team with their production line.
Members of the school Her Health, Her Future club meeting with the RACE team.
Project Information at the new community borehole.
The TEL Program Director, Parker, with the RACE team.
The TEL Program Director with the RACE team.
Completed ventilated pit latrines.
School Club members with the TEL and RACE team members.
The dedicated RACE team.
A member of the RACE team making a RUMP after the Days for Girls training.
The RACE team with their new T-shirts ready to sell the RUMPS!
Girls at Mpumudde High School enjoying the Days for Girls training session.
A school girl concentrates hard while assembling RUMPS.
A template for the RUMPS pattern.
School girls at Mpumudde High School wearing their new bags.
School girls listen carefully to learn how to assemble their RUMPS
A school girl selects the fun fabrics she wants to use for her RUMPS.
The girls proudly show their Days for Girls packs.
The Mpumudde girls proudly show the bags they made for their RUMPS.
A class photo after the Days for Girls training session.
The school girls getting ready to make their own RUMPS.
Threading a needle before getting down to the hard work!
Everyone is hard at work sewing their RUMPS bags!
Everyone is hard at work sewing their RUMPS bags!
Menstrual Hygiene Health training for boys and girls at Butembe High School.
The class at Butembe High School after the Days for Girls training session.
A school girl draws her ideal school sanitation facilities.
Students during the interviews and focus groups.
A group of the female students that were interviewed about the sanitation facilities at their school.
Students taking part in the focus groups outside in the great weather.
Mpumudde High School.
Two students drawing their ideal version of sanitation facilities for their school.
Current state of the latrines at the school.
Current sanitation buildings at one of the schools.
Boys at the school discussing the focus group topics.