#EndPeriodPoverty for Girls in Rural Zimbabwe

During this reporting period, Talia Women's Network partnered with CBZ Holdings, a financial institution, to distribute dignity kits comprising of reusable sanitary pads to 625 girls from Kandeya Secondary School and Mutumba High School in Mt. Darwin district in Mashonaland Central Province to alleviate the problem of period poverty among the girls residing mostly in rural communities in Zimbabwe.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic era, the province recorded a significant increase in school drop outs due to teen and unwanted pregnancies as well as early and child marriages. There is limited access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services, particulalry for adolescent girls and young women. Culturally SRHR issues are seldom discussed at family level and this role is left mostly for the schools. These girls do not have health seeking behaviours and fear visiting healthcare facilites for fear of victimisation and a general lack of confidentiality for their issues.

The menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) outreaches at the two schools were held in partnership with CBZ Holdings. During these sessions the girls were trained on basic hygiene matters and how to use the reusable pads they received. The training also addressed SRHR issues and identified people and places where the girls could go for help. They were encouraged to prioritise their education over early sexual debut and were encouraged not to fall for peer pressure. The training also gave the girls career guidance and exposed them to careers that are not popular among rural schools.

CBZ Holdings demonstrated that they live up to their reputation of being partners for success.

March was a special month with the International Women's Day being commemorated on the 8th of March. This year, we adopted the international theme and modified it to, 'Invest in Girls: Accelerate Progress'.

We partnered with a leading tele-communications company, TelOne Zimbabwe and had outreaches with high school girls in Mazowe District. At the sessions, we celebrated the girls for remaining focussed on school regardless of the various challenges they could see in their communities. Some of their peers dropped out of school due to early or unwanted pregnancies as well as early childhood marriages. The girls were encouraged to stay in school and excel to have a brighter future for themselves and their families.

At the commemorations, we were accompanied by various professional women including marketing executives, human resources practitioners, accountants and IT specialists. These women had come from humble backgrounds, similar to the rural setting of these schools and had persevered with school and pursued the careers of their dreams. They gave testimonials, highlighting that your background did not limit what you could accomplish in life. These sessions were inspiring to the girls and gave them renewed hope and purpose.

The Talia team members, demonstrated how to make reusable sanitary pads using materials readily available in the home environment. They emphasised that they could use these skills to make pads for their family members and other vulnerable community members. Three hundred girls were impacted during these sessions and they all received packs with reusable sanitary pads. They were given a demonstration on how to use and care for the pads.

We are truly grateful for the support we continually receive on the GlobalGiving platform, which allows us to reach out to more and more girls in need. We are now in the month of May, Menstrual Hygiene month and we are planning to have more outreaches to the rural and remote communities to distribute the reusable sanitary pads and inspire the girls through various career talks and mentoring. Together we are fighting period poverty one girl at a time. We continually encourage our supporters to reach out to these girls, even in their own respective communities because period poverty is not just an Africa problem. If we do not act upon this issue urgently, no one else will.