Gender Equality South Africa Project #42971

No more Menstrual Stigma. Period!

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Nov 3, 2026
Raising awareness to tackle the problem

By William Day | Impact and Operations Officer

Dear friends, donors, and interested people,

In many parts Africa, the menstrual cycle is a highly overlooked topic with low awareness amongst girls and women. We aim to tackle this in multiple ways. First of all we give out period pads on a large scale because in low-budget poor households, many women are faced with the decision of buying sanitary products or providing for their family so are forced to buy food and go without the hygienic products they require.

We also run awareness-raising outreach events for menstrual cups, these are reusable products with a 10 year lifespan and only cost around USD $10. Many women don't know how to use these products so are worried about trying them, an issue which publiv outreach events directly tackle. Finally, we hope to train the people working at our sewing project in Cape Town to make reusable sanitary pads which can be bought at a fraction of the lifetime cost of single use disposable ones.

Thank you for taking the time to stay up to date with this project.

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Jul 7, 2026
Supporting females in Africa

By shayle havemann | Project leader

Mar 9, 2026
Time to re-group

By Tyrone Bennett | CEO of Action Change

Molo everyone,

I want to be completely open with you about where we stand. We have hit a wall with our menstrual health outreach program, and it’s a tough one. Because we haven’t raised enough to keep the engine running, we’ve been forced to pause our sessions until May or June.

It is incredibly frustrating to have to stop when we know there are so many girls and women who need this support, but we are using this time to get our heads down and focus purely on finding the partners and donors who can help us get back out there.

Our goal is simple: we need to secure a steady income of 500 dollars a month to keep this program moving without these forced stops. When we have that baseline, we can stop chasing funds and start focusing entirely on what we do best—breaking down the stigma around periods, providing health education, and making sure no girl feels shame for a natural part of her life.

This is where you come in.

We have the Little by Little campaign coming up on GlobalGiving from March 17th to the 20th. This is a massive opportunity for us. Because GlobalGiving matches donations up to 50 dollars at 50 percent, a smaller contribution from you actually does the heavy lifting of a much larger one.

If we can get enough people on board during this campaign, we can hit that 500 dollar monthly target and make sure we are not just back in the field by May, but staying there for good.

If you have been waiting for the right moment to get involved, this is it. Please mark your calendars for March 17th, and if you are able, consider setting up a small recurring donation. Even a few dollars a month makes a world of difference when it comes to keeping these doors open.

Please share this with your crew. We are not just looking for funds; we are looking for a community that believes that menstrual health is a right, not a luxury.

Thanks for being in this with us and for helping us get back to the work that matters.

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