SWADHIN- PROMOTING MENSTRUAL HYGIENE IN AND AROUND THE TEA GROWING REGIONS ASSAM (11 DISTRICTS) AND NORTH BENGAL (1 DISTRICT)
In North-East India, women and adolescent girls use cloth as menstrual absorbents, due to high cost of the products, non-availability, and lack of prioritizing their own health and hygiene. As a result, they do not understand the value of menstrual products. Since the concept of menstruation is considered taboo, dialogue around it is also discouraged. This has resulted in a lack of understanding about menstruation and limited awareness on the need for prioritizing menstrual hygiene and health.
The cloth used during menstruation is not properly cleaned, dried or disinfected, thus, giving rise to a host of health issues for women. Contrarily, disposable sanitary pads come with disinfecting and anti-bacterial properties. Cloth also increases the risk of staining, thus forcing girls to miss school and keeps women out from work, leading to loss of income and livelihood, in addition to health issues.
OVERALL IMPACT (What we aim to achieve):
Improvement in menstrual hygiene practices on a personal and community level amongst targeted population, from a total of 55,000 women and adolescent girls across the region.
IMPACT INDICATORS:
1. 60% of women and adolescent girls of the target locations to be covered through awareness sessions and medical camps,
2. At 50% of these women and adolescent girls converted permanently from using cloth to disposable sanitary pads,
3. At least 30% of women and adolescent girls having menstrual issues have approached the doctor for treatment,
4. At least 30% of the girls in menarche are taught and allowed to use disposable sanitary pads by their mothers or female head of their household, 2 years after the programme,
5. Those who are converted to using disposable sanitary pads have continued with healthy hygiene practices 2 years after the programme.
TRACKING OF INDICATORS:
1. Weekly review of the awareness programmes held by the Sakhis,
2. Monthly assessment of the progress against the target,
3. Annual assessment of the programme to understand short term impact,
4. Assessment of the programme, 2 years from the end date of the programme to understand long-term impact.
TARGET GROUP AND TIMELINE (Who, Where, How much and by When):
The target population for this programme is - girls above 12 years of age if they have reached menarche; women above 19 years of age, from 25 tea growing regions across West Bengal and Assam.
At least 60% (as per latest census) of the above-mentioned age and gender group to be covered in the programme within 1 year, and 100% to be covered within 3 years.
PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES (How):
1. Selection and an initial training of the Sakhis, identified from the community itself,
2. Small group (7 to 30 people) awareness meetings on a weekly basis, bi-monthly large group (50 to 200 people) awareness meetings and household awareness visits by the Sakhis to disseminate messages on good menstrual hygiene practices,
3. Sale of disposable menstrual absorbents by the Sakhis, incentivized per sale for them, to drive behaviour change regarding purchase of menstrual products,
4. Medical camps on a quarterly basis to ensure that the women and adolescent girls are prioritizing menstrual health and hygiene,
5. IEC materials to be displayed in public locations to further drive the concept of MHM,
6. Monthly experience sharing by the Sakhis to understand successful and unsuccessful practices in driving the above-mentioned behaviour change,
7. Impact Assessment to understand the current menstrual hygiene practices.
BUDGET:
Estimated funds required for successfully running these activities for 12 months in the 25 tea growing regions is around Rs 25 lakhs, to be spent on activities as enumerated above. Your contributions would help in achieving much-needed progress around menstrual health, at a mere cost of Rs.75 per women/girl for the entire year.
Detailed plan/budget available on request.
Help us raise funds for our specific needs.
| Project | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| TEACH Me | Ensuring quality supplemental education for 7000 children (class 4-12) around tea growing areas through pre-loaded grade-wise tutorials. Running at 3 centres in Bengal. Aim to set-up 21 centres Assam. | |
| Referral Hospital and Research Centre, Chubwa Tea Estate | Secondary medical facility, SA8000 certificate, set-up in Dibrugarh,Assam in 1994, having treated 90747 people at affordable rates. Now requires specialized cabins for advanced medical treatments. |
A big thank you to all those who have donated on this page.
APPL Foundation was formed on 29 August, 2011, as an irrevocable trust with the dominant objective of the welfare of the general public in distress. The Trust has been formed as a charitable organization among others to provide medical aid, services and relief, attending and propagation of education and learning, environment protection and food security to general public at large and for the revival of indigenous tribal, music and dance.
APPL Foundation has been working to bring about improvement in the quality of life and standard of living in the North East.
Our initiatives in the field of education, skill development, healthcare, culture, income supplementation and environmental conservation have had far-reaching impact within the desired communities.
