Girls Can Do Everything

Empowering girls today to be leaders tomorrow

Menstruation is natural. Yet, for girls around the world this is a time of worry, shame and isolation.

When girls are equipped with information on their menstrual health and have access to sanitary pads and adequate facilities, they can manage their periods effectively.

And when girls are in control of their menstrual health and hygiene, they are able to attend school no matter the time of the month and actively engage in community life without constraints.

Period poverty and stigma strips many girls of this basic human right.

As a result, one in ten girls will skip class when they’re on their periods. Many stay at home, feeling isolated and ashamed to face their peers for fear of being ridiculed when they lack the means to manage their periods safely.

In our podcast, we speak to school teachers and female students in Uganda to hear their stories on this issue.

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Fighting period poverty in Uganda

Access to safe and hygienic menstrual products as a basic human right

Having access to safe menstrual care products is a basic human right.

Good Neighbours provides girls with hygiene kits including soap, towels and toilet paper to help them look after their menstrual health.

When girls lack access to affordable, hygienic menstrual products, they often resort to using rags, old clothes, leaves or other unhygienic means to contain their period.

This can lead to reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and other health problems which further prevent girls from achieving  their full potential in school and society.

 

Reusable pads

Good Neighbours Uganda partners with local communities to source and provide girls with reusable pads.

By making re-usable pads accessible to girls we address the supply and waste management challenges disposable pads create.

Reusable sanitary pads are also an appropriate and effective solution to helping girls manage their menstruation in a safe, dignified and culturally sensitive way.

This enables girls to stay fresh, feeling confident to attend class during their period.

 

Menstrual Hygiene Management Education

In Uganda, Good Neighbours works closely with schools and teachers to enable girls to learn about their reproductive system and how to look after their menstrual health.

Globally, girls and women often lack the ability to manage their menstruation safely and with dignity due to a lack of  knowledge and understanding on menstrual hygiene management.

The classes provide girls with factual information on reproductive health and encourage girls to come to terms with menstruation as a natural process instead of fearing it.

Girls ambassadors equipped with this information then pass on the knowledge to their peers, helping break down stigma and ridicule at school.

Community awareness campaigns on girls' rights and gender equality

Good Neighbours holds regular community awareness campaigns on girls’ rights, health hygiene and gender equality, inviting families, teachers and community leaders to stand with girls and enable them to continue their education.

For girls to be truly empowered, they need more than physical access to menstrual products and sanitary facilities.

Parents, teachers and community leaders need to stand up for girls’ rights and for gender equality to enable long term behavioural change.

 

 

 

 

Before Good Neighbours took us for workshops, I did not know anything about girls’ rights or that a girl has a right to be in school and not only boys. My dream is to study at Makerere University and get a good job. This is what I always tell my parents and sisters. So I will continue to encourage my fellow girls at school and in my village to stay in school, get a degree and a good job so that they can support themselves and their family.

– Janat, Kimasa Primary School

Support us today to help girls never miss school again

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