Menstrual Hygiene Management Reusable Sanitary Towels (Women Choice Industries)
Lead: Lucy Achieng Odiwa Website: http://www.womenchoice.co.tz Location: Tanga, Tanzania Reach: Tanzania Type: For-Profit Budget: 50000-100000 USD
PROBLEM Girls and young women aged 9-24 from poor households increasingly face menstrual hygiene management challenges in Tanzania. There is a lack of information, products, and services, which results not only in the use of unhygienic materials, but also has driven some females to trade sex for pads, exposing them to earlier pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and sexually-transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. In Tanzania, only 11% of school-based sanitary facilities meet the minimum standard; 26% of schools with 100 pupils have no latrines, only 9% of latrines are clean, only 1% of schools have soap, 38% have no access to water, 52% have latrines with no doors, 63% have no sanitary disposal facilities, and 82% lack sufficient knowledge to manage menstruation. This means that girls often stay home from school for 4-8 days per month while menstruating, or 48-84 days annually. This impacts their academic performance.
SOLUTION
IMPACT
The project supports menstrual hygiene with reusable sanitary towels. These towels have been designed as a low-cost, high-quality solution for young women and girls from poor households. They are made from locally-available, second hand cloth and polyurethane waterproof material (PUL). The pads are soft and comfortable for the user, and environmentally friendly as they can be reused for up to 3 years.
The project’s reusable sanitary towel cuts costs by 7590% annually. By June 2018, at least 150,000 schools girls in Tanga were provided with reusable sanitary towels, which increased their attendance in school and improved their academic performance. Additionally, the enterprise has empowered over 500 vulnerable women, by providing them with small scale business management skills and employing them as vendors and sales agents, offering them 10% commission on every product sold. This has in turn increased rural outreach and delivery services.
ALIGNMENT WITH THE SDGS By increasing young girls’ access to low-cost, high-quality, reusable sanitary towels, this has reduced girls menstrual related school absences and improves academic performance. This is directly relevant to SDG Indicator 4.1 which aims to “ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.”
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