Keep Tanzania's Girls in School

Direct Relief Tanzania is proud to present this quarterly project report, highlighting the progress and impact of our menstrual hygiene management (MHM) awareness campaign conducted in the past quarter. The campaign was designed to educate and empower female students in various public secondary schools across Tanzania on menstrual hygiene, breaking the stigma surrounding menstruation, and addressing one of the silent yet critical barriers to girls' education.

Despite facing significant funding limitations, the project has achieved notable milestones. Our collective efforts have not only improved knowledge and attitudes toward menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls but have also planted the seeds for long-term behavioral and institutional change in the schools and communities we reached.

Key Activities Implemented

Over the past quarter, the following activities were carried out:

• Community School Visits: A total of 2 public secondary schools were visited in  Dodoma region. Each visit included interactive workshops on menstrual health, self-care, and nutrition.

• Student Awareness Sessions: Over 800 female students participated in group sessions led by trained facilitators. These sessions included Q&A forums, testimonies from older peers, and the distribution of informative leaflets in both English and Kiswahili.

Challenges Faced

• The primary challenge throughout the implementation period was underfunding. Due to financial constraints, the project could not reach all the schools initially identified in the planning phase. Some intended activities, such as distribution of sanitary pads had to be postponed.
• In addition, there were logistical limitations in accessing remote schools and maintaining continuous engagement with students post-session. Despite these barriers, the passion and commitment of our team, volunteers, and school partners enabled us to make tangible progress.

Appreciation

Direct Relief Tanzania would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to all individuals, partners, donors, volunteers, and organizations who contributed in various ways to make this project possible. Your support  whether financial, material, or moral  meant the world to the girls we reached.

Thanks to your generosity, girls who once missed school due to shame or lack of products now walk into classrooms with greater confidence. You have helped create safe spaces for dialogue, dignity, and growth.

The Way Forward

While we are proud of the strides made this quarter, our mission is far from complete. Menstrual poverty remains a leading cause of school dropouts among girls in Tanzania. We therefore urge all supporters, old and new, to continue standing with us as we expand this initiative.

With adequate funding and consistent community involvement, we can reach more girls, provide sustainable access to sanitary products. Every contribution big or small  makes a difference in keeping girls in school and safeguarding their right to education.

This quarter has demonstrated that with commitment, compassion, and collaboration, meaningful change is possible  even under financial constraints. Direct Relief Tanzania remains dedicated to the cause of menstrual equity and the empowerment of every girl child.

Let’s keep the conversation going. Let’s keep our girls in school.

Thank you.

The Tanzania's President Office (PO-RALG) shows that only 16.8 % of 8,012 girls interviewed in 2021, Dodoma Region,missed lessons due to lack of sanitary pads. This is an added challenge to the already existing problems that lead to the high dropout rate of female students in primary and secondary schools in Dodoma. Dodoma Rural where transport networks are often poor, ensuring a regular supply of disposable pads at an affordable cost is challenging to female students from poor families.

To address the problem, dDirect Relief Tanzania proposed the project that aimed to empower 5,000 poor female students from 50 public secondary schools in Dodoma Rural through provision of reusable sanitary pads, pair of underwear per girl and 500gms bar soap. Project will also provide menstrual hygiene management education. Distribution of reusable pads and menstrual hygiene management education has radically proved to create a world where women and girls can step boldly into the promise of their future.

For the period of October 2024 to December 2024. Direct Relief has been able to reach other government schools in Dodoma region and distribute sanitary pads to female students. The schools are Ihala Secondary School and Mwanakianga Secondary School. Direct Relief Tanzania was able to distribute a total of 3800 sanitary pads. In the implementation of the project in these schools, apart from distributing sanitary pads, Direct Relief Tanzania also provided reproductive health education to hundreds of students of these schools.

Although the contribution of this project is still low enough to hinder some of the project's activities, Direct Relief Tanzania has been able to mobilize funding from the communities surrounding the schools and finally to be able to get this number (3,800) of sanitary pads and distribute them to female students in need.

The success of this project requires a joint effort from the communities surrounding the schools that are in the project and other donors anywhere in the world. For that reason, we would like to kindly ask donors wherever they are in the world to continue supporting this project, so that we can reach more female students in order to give them the right to education as their constitutional right. As these female students from poor families have been losing their education for a long time, just because of lack of sanitary pads.
We have no doubt that you are among the people who like to see the world as a safe place for everyone. Your generous support is greatly  needed.