Education Malawi Project #74457

Support4Reusable Sanitary, EmPower Girls Education

by Centre for Girls and Interaction (CEGI)

Project Report | Sep 24, 2026
Support4Reusable Sanitary, EmPower Girls Education

By Sarah Nyirenda | Project Officer

The report focuses on human trafficking undermines human dignity, security and development, making it a critical issue for governments, organizations and communities to address through prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership. CEGI realized that many of the same vulnerabilities that drive gender-based violence GBV, such as gender discrimination, poverty and lack of education, also serve as root causes of human trafficking globally. GBV not only drives trafficking but also acts as a tool used by traffickers to manipulate and control individuals, especially, especially women and children into both sex and forced labour. The report is contributing to the last activities conducted by CEGI in communities and schools on efforts to address the gender dimensions of the problem of trafficking in persons and contains recommendations on the strengthening of human rights–based, victim-centred, and gender- and age-sensitive approaches.

CEGI found out that lower levels of digital literacy among older women, combined with limited access to technology and the absence of age and gender-responsive outreach, have further restricted awareness of rights, access to information, and the ability to seek support or redress through formal systems to prevent trafficking through use of technologies.

ACHIVEMENTS

CEGI managed to improve reporting and referral system for reporting of cases from communities and individuals who are experiencing abuse and dangers of trafficked
Working with community structures and schools has been improved and number of activities on awareness raising done
Implementation of community awareness campaigns through radio, social media and community dialogues
Formation of community task forces to monitor and report trafficking activities or any related suspicious activities.
Through educatingyoung people about digital safety, monitor their online interactions, and warn them about online predators who use social media and gaming platforms to groom victims has managed to reach out to 1000+ beneficiaries

CHALLENGES

Corruption still remain at the point of everything among law enforcement officers that allows traffickers to operate
Insufficient funding for prevention, rescue , rehabilitation programs across different communities
Victims unaware of their rights, making them reluctant to seek help
Communities unaware of trafficking risks, especially in rural areas
Lack of poor mobility in hard to reach areas due to rains and poor roads

WAY FORWARD

Advocacy continues to demand strict accountability for traffickers and better survivor support systems
Scale up community education campaigns targeting rural and high risk areas
Integrate human trafficking prevention and awareness into school curricula and youth programs
There is a need to strengthen collaboration of organizations and mobilize communities in supporting advocacy work to end trafficking

LESSONS LEARNED

Strong partnerships between government agencies, NGO’s and international organizations improve response and victim support
Empowering community leaders and youth creates sustainable awareness
Respecting survivors rights and dignity increases trust and cooperation
Awareness campaigns must be combined with livelihood programs to address root causes like poverty and unemployment and there is a need to come up with some ideas to come up with a livelihood fundraising

Permalink

May 27, 2026
Project Report on Support4Reusable Sanitary Pads

By Chancy Simwela | Project Officer

Project Summary:
This project empowers girls through access to affordable, hygienic sanitary pads produced by CEGI volunteers both in schools and communities. By producing and distributing free pads to low-income girls and providing menstrual hygiene education in schools and communities, the project boosts confidence, improves hygiene, and enables girls to stay in school and thrive.

Without the capacity for reusable pads, women and girls often resort to using unhygienic, inconvenient and undignified methods of period care such as banana leaves and newspapers to manage their cycles. Furthermore, research has documented menstruating girls’ experiences of shame, fear and confusion across numerous country contexts. The challenges girls face attempting to manage their menstruation with insufficient information on their bodies, a lack of social support and ongoing social and hygiene taboos leads to a vicious cycle that reaffirms the statistics listed above.

To combat the issues stemming from lack of education on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and cultural norms, CEGI seeks to create a comprehensive training program to offer with the sale of the reusable pads.

Key Achievements:

Increased and enrolled 68 AGYW (10-24 years) into the program at CEGI centre
20 community and school outreaches conducted with mother groups on menstrual hygiene and SRHR among youth
The stakeholders engaged to support MHM and SRHR program in schools and communities, including increasing access to health, and enhancing health education.

Challenges encountered:

Lack of continuity of support towards SRHR program for youth since some of activities were once off
Some community members expressed frustration with lack of support to support rural remote girls with sanitary pads especially the needs ones
Compromised confidentiality and privacy.
Issues of accessibility especially for the special interest groups such as PWDs
Another problem was that most of the students lacked basic knowledge on sewing. As a result, we had to teach them these basics which also contributed to time consumption.

Lessons Learnt:

Regular review of actions taken and follow-ups are very important so that commitments by stakeholders are accountable and ensuring that the health facilities are reported back any progress achieved to increase service uptake of SRHR and MHM among AGYW.

The presence of the mother groups ensured sustainability of the project as they were empowered to train the remaining girls and polishing them up.

As a result of increased community engagement and understanding of best practices for menstrual hygiene, this program can spur a cultural shift rooted in supporting school-aged girls throughout their menstruation cycles. This support will give them the confidence needed to seek further education and the management practices best suited to them as individuals.

Recommendations:

Developing contingency plans for managing pads stockouts and supply chain disruptions.
There is need to visit the school during the term to check on the girls progress in terms of hygiene and reduced level of absenteeism. These visits will also focus on the girl’s improvement in sewing reusable pads.
Train peer educators to provide SRHR education and support to young people.
Increase community outreaches and engagement to promote SRHR, HIV prevention services and encourage uptake.
Establish facility feedback mechanisms to ensure that community concerns and suggestions are heard and addressed e.g. suggestion boxes.
Conduct focused group discussions to ascertain members’ opinions.

Permalink

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.