HOCIC has continued work with adolescent girls in Matobo district. HOCIC under the Securing Rights Program has formed ten Sista2Sista clubs. These clubs provide young women and adolescent girls with safe places where they are able to come together to learn skills and techniques to assist the in overcoming various challenges they face.
During the quarter under review the Access to Sanitary Wear for 1000 girls in Matobo has worked in partnership with the Securing Rights Program conducting menstrual hygiene and health trainings and life skills trainings with the Sista2Sista clubs. The main objective of these trainings is to ensure that the girls practise good hygiene not only during their menstruation but everyday of their lives. The trainings also aim to demystify myths and other age-old traditions that the girls and young women are taught with pose health hazards to the girls. For example, girls are taught that in order to be able to sexually satisfy a man they should stuff herbs and other materials in their vaginas. These age-old traditions may cause serious challenges such as cervical cancer.
The Program Assistant has also monitored the girls who were trained on how to make reusable sanitary pads and have been using them. The girls still state that the pads are a sustainable solution that has also reduced their monthly costs of living. However, the girls may need new reusable sanitary pads by June as the ones they have are starting to get old. The Program envisions to raise funds to conduct refresher trainings and provide the girls with materials to make more reusable pads before the beginning to June 2020.
The Access to Sanitary Wear for 1000 girls continues to face challenges in raising funds and receiving funds disbursed from GlobalGiving.
First and foremost, HOCIC would like to apologise for sending the 5th quarter report late. HOCIC team continued to work in Matobo with adolescent girls and young women during the period under review. The adolescent girls continued to meet in their Sista2Sista groups and they indicated that they now meet once a month due to the onset of the farming season. A newly formed Sista2sista club was monitored and trained on detergent making and reusable pad making. In ward 3 they reported that economic abuse cases have been reduced as most of the young women are engaged in the small businesses and are able to contribute to the monthly family income. Of concern however were reports that 7 girls from a school in Gohole, Matobo who are form 4s dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancy. They indicated that the main cause for such was due to the prevailing economic hardships thus forcing young people to engage in sexual relationships for money. This highlights the need to upscale the program to reach out to more adolescent girls with sexual reproductive health information in the area. There was also 1 case of attempted rape of a primary school child thus this has led to increased security for the young people as the parents are now accompanying their minors to and from school. The low-cost boarding school that was established early this year to avoid that the girls walk long distances to and from school o foot is up and running, however, the school is only accommodating a few girls thus there is need to extend the blocks so as to accommodate more young people. The cases of Gender Based violence resulted in HOCIC launching the campaign for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence on the 25th of November 2019 through sending of bulk smes to the targeted communities. The theme for the year is “Generational equality: Stands Against Rape” and messages were sent to sensitise communities on the campaign and the need to act against rape in their communities. A sports gala was also conducted in ward 3 under the theme is “Generational equality: Stands Against Rape” #OrangeTheWorld so as to encourage the communities to speak out against rape. During the commemoration various partners were able to share solidarity messages to the community on the need to stop violence against women and girls. The guest of honour who is the chief’s assessor also shared a message to denounce rape in the area, he encouraged the people to always report rape cases and ensure that the kraal heads do not house perpetrators within their villages. During the commemoration the people were able to access various GBV services which included counselling and HIV testing and counselling.
The project however still faces challenges in raising enough funds on the Global Giving platform.
During the fourth quarter monitoring visits were conducted at Mahetshe secondary school and at Zamanyoni Primary school. The participants are making good use of the skill acquired and are showing positive results.
A total of forty young girls were trained at Mahetshe secondary school, Ms Ncube now managed to cascade the training to a total of sixty more young girls in the school. The prevailing economic crisis in Zimbabwe makes it difficult for families to be able to buy necessities. The training has made it easy for young girls in the school to access clean and safe to use sanitary wear. All the girls have managed to complete five pads each and have all used them, they also stated that the reusable sanitary pads are cost effective for their families.
At Zamanyoni primary school seventeen of the women trained who are caregivers of young girls managed to complete making five reusable sanitary pads each. The women have stated that they would like to continue making the pads to resell but they do not have the funds to purchase the materials. One of the interviewed participants stated that the initiative could not have come a better time as it has eased the burden of buying reusable pads whose cost is ever rising.
The project continues to face challenges of a lack of funding and unavailability of materials in the country. The project is still making efforts to raise funds to acquire menstrual cups which are more sustainable, environmentally friendly and cost effective.
Access to Sanitary Wear for 1000 Girls in Matobo Project 3rd Quarter report
In the third quarter the “Access to Sanitary Wear for 1000 girls in Matobo” Project continued to implement the Reusable sanitary pads project. The project conducted one more training at Zamanyoni Primary School and three monitoring visits at both Mahetshe Secondary School and Zamanyoni Primary School. The monitoring visits were fruitful as they highlighted areas of improvement for the programme and also showed the impact the programme has on the trained participants.
The monitoring visits follow the reusable pads trainings held at both sites. The training at Mahetshe Secondary School had forty young girls between the ages of thirteen and eighteen who trained during the first quarter on how to make reusable pads and were provided with materials to make five pads each that they can use on a monthly basis. At Zamanyoni Primary School twenty women who are care givers for girls and young women who are between the ages of ten and twenty-four were trained on how to make reusable pads which the girls and young women will be able to use on a monthly basis and were also provided with materials to make five sanitary pads each.
At Mahetshe Secondary School the project has made an impact, the forty girls that were trained on how to make the reusable sanitary pads have gone on to train thirty more girls. Ms Ncube one of the school teachers has taken initiative to head the program in the school. 80 % of the girls have managed to complete making five sanitary pads each and 50 % have used the sanitary pads.
The project team interviewed two girls during the monitoring visits who have used the sanitary pads Nokulunga Moyo and Beauty Mbira. Nokulunga Caroline Moyo is a fifteen-year-old girl currently doing her form two at Mahetshe Secondary School. Nokulunga resides with her single mother and two siblings they do not have a father. Nokulunga stated that her mother is a vendor who works hard to make ends meet and the reusable pads helped as they help cut costs in their household. Beauty Mbira is also a fifteen-year-old girl currently doing her form two at Mahetshe Secondary School. Beauty resides with her grandmother and her parents who are both unemployed. Her grandmother is her primary caregiver and struggles to provide everything Beauty needs hence the reusable pads help in their household. Beauty started using the reusable pads in March and has used them for two months.
On the 28th of May the organisation joined the rest of the world in celebrating Menstrual Health Day 2019 by running a Facebook campaign to take action to create a world where no girl is held back by their periods. The aim was to break taboos that surround menstruation and raise awareness of the importance of good menstrual hygiene management worldwide. https://www.facebook.com/hocic.zimbabwe/photos/
The challenge that is currently being faced is lack of funding and also unavailability of materials in Zimbabwe due to the current economic crisis. In the near future, funds permitting the project would like to introduce the Menstrual Cup as it is more sustainable and cuts costs on sanitary wear in the long run.
In the third quarter the “Access to Sanitary Wear for 1000 girls in Matobo” Project continued to implement the Reusable sanitary pads project. The project conducted one more training at Zamanyoni Primary School and three monitoring visits at both Mahetshe Secondary School and Zamanyoni Primary School. The monitoring visits were fruitful as they highlighted areas of improvement for the programme and also showed the impact the programme has on the trained participants.
The monitoring visits follow the reusable pads trainings held at both sites. The training at Mahetshe Secondary School had forty young girls between the ages of thirteen and eighteen who trained during the first quarter on how to make reusable pads and were provided with materials to make five pads each that they can use on a monthly basis. At Zamanyoni Primary School twenty women who are care givers for girls and young women who are between the ages of ten and twenty-four were trained on how to make reusable pads which the girls and young women will be able to use on a monthly basis and were also provided with materials to make five sanitary pads each.
At Mahetshe Secondary School the project has made an impact, the forty girls that were trained on how to make the reusable sanitary pads have gone on to train thirty more girls. Ms Ncube one of the school teachers has taken initiative to head the program in the school. 80 % of the girls have managed to complete making five sanitary pads each and 50 % have used the sanitary pads.
The project team interviewed two girls during the monitoring visits who have used the sanitary pads Nokulunga Moyo and Beauty Mbira. Nokulunga Caroline Moyo is a fifteen-year-old girl currently doing her form two at Mahetshe Secondary School. Nokulunga resides with her single mother and two siblings they do not have a father. Nokulunga stated that her mother is a vendor who works hard to make ends meet and the reusable pads helped as they help cut costs in their household. Beauty Mbira is also a fifteen-year-old girl currently doing her form two at Mahetshe Secondary School. Beauty resides with her grandmother and her parents who are both unemployed. Her grandmother is her primary caregiver and struggles to provide everything Beauty needs hence the reusable pads help in their household. Beauty started using the reusable pads in March and has used them for two months.
On the 28th of May the organisation joined the rest of the world in celebrating Menstrual Health Day 2019 by running a Facebook campaign to take action to create a world where no girl is held back by their periods. The aim was to break taboos that surround menstruation and raise awareness of the importance of good menstrual hygiene management worldwide. https://www.facebook.com/hocic.zimbabwe/photos/
The challenge that is currently being faced is lack of funding and also unavailability of materials in Zimbabwe due to the current economic crisis. In the near future, fuds permitting the project would like to introduce the Menstrual Cup as it is more sustainable and cuts costs on sanitary wear in the long run.
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