By Alison Nakamura Netter | Chief Communications & Development Officer
Dear Friends,
We’ve been busy since our last update in December! Over the past four months we have been tirelessly working to expand access to sanitary pads and health education for adolescent girls in Kenya.
Here’s how:
In February, we convened all of our 14 community-based partners in Nairobi to conduct a three-day community-strengthening workshop, and to distribute sanitary pads to serve 10,000 girls. This was the first of two trainings that will be held for our partners this year.
In addition to convening our partners to share best practices, challenges, and successes in their work with girls, we listened deeply to their needs to better understand how we can best serve their communities. It was a great three days of learning, listening, and service. We’re now taking those learnings to deepen our programming over the years to come.
In other exciting news, issue #2 of Nia Teen magazine is fully underway. Over the next few months, we’ll be iteratively testing content to gain insights from the girls we serve. Though it’s not final yet, we’ll cover topics like puberty, reproduction, and periods, all delivered in a fun, body-positive, and engaging way. In it you’ll find comic-style illustrations on bodily changes, how pregnancy happens, and inspiring interviews with real girls (and boys!).
Last and definitely not least, we’ve been gearing up for the launch of our randomized controlled trial, which is kicking off in May 2017 in Kilifi, Kenya. This study will include nearly 5,000 girls and will examine the extent to which sanitary pads and health education can improve girls’ overall wellbeing. We’ll examine not only improvements in school attendance, but school performance, matriculation to secondary school, reproductive health behavior, and self-determination.
This will be the largest study of its kind ever conducted in East Africa to-date, and we’re thrilled to share our progress with you!
As always, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for believing that menstruation matters and being a champion for girls!
With gratitude,
Alison
By Alison Nakamura Netter | Chief Communications & Development Officer
By Alison Nakamura Netter | Chief Communications & Development Officer
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