Shattering Menstrual Shame in Nepal

Thank you for your donation to Days for Girls’ Shattering the Shame project through GlobalGiving.Becasue of you, we are continuing to reach some of the most vulnerable women and girls in rural Nepal. I hope you take pride in knowing what this means to thousands of women and girls. With your gift, we are able to mitigate the negative effects of a number of issues surrounding menstruation.

Our outreach in Nepal does not only involve females. With portions of your donated funds, we are also reaching out to boys with our Men Who Know curriculum. In these courses, we teach boys the menstrual cycle, anatomy, human trafficking, and how to respectfully support the women and girls in their lives. 

Most recently, our area of focus has been in the Kailali District, Sudurpashchim Province in western Nepal. Using proven strategies, the following are our goals for this region: 

1. Increase women and girls’ menstrual health knowledge through increased access to accurate and well delivered menstrual health education;
2. Positively impact women and girls menstrual experiences and confidence managing menstruation through the local production and distribution of DfG washable pad Kits;
3. Reduce stigma and taboos surrounding menstruation in the community through education awareness sessions and women’s circles and encouragement of community and peer-to-peer conversations regarding menstrual health and women's health;
4. Work with the local community to develop ways to honor religious tradition while keeping women and girls safe and respected. To shift cultural practices surrounding chhaupadi (the harmful practice where females are relegated to huts and cowsheds during menstruation) into alternate rites of passage ceremonies and customs;
5. Build local leadership and capacity on subjects including menstrual health, alternate rites of passage, and women’s health;
6. Educate men and boys on sexual reproductive health and menstruation;
7. Create job opportunities and increased livelihoods for the women residing in the Kailali area through engagement, capacity building, and support of the local DfG Social Enterprise; and 
8. Evaluate the impact of the project and learnings for the future through comprehensive monitoring, learning, and evaluation (MLE).

None of this would be possible without the support of incredible donors and partners such as yourself. Our ability to conduct life-transforming education and menstrual kit distributions is thanks to the care and compassion that you have shown. Thank you for helping us turn periods into pathways.

Namaste!

Thanks to your support, Days for Girls continues to change the narrative on Menstrual Health (MH) in Nepal with our patented menstrual health Kits and education. 

We are pleased to report that recently Maya Khaitu, DfG Nepal Country Coordinator and local trainers conducted a distribution of Kits in Kailali District, Sudurpashchim Province in western Nepal. Maya reported that throughout the training, women and girls continued to arrive, swelling the number of participants well beyond what the trainers had expected. 

During the distribution, girls received information on the menstrual cycle, hygiene (including proper handwashing techniques), anatomy, self defense, and human trafficking. They also received a Days for Girls menstrual Kit, specially designed to last up to three years. The girls were taught how to properly use, wash, and care for their Kits so they will achieve optimal results. While respecting religious traditions, DfG trainers talked about the dangers of chhaupadi (the outdated tradition of relegating menstruators to huts or cowsheds and considering them unclean during menstruation). 

One participant wrote:  “Namaste, my name is Mina B.K. Many women and girls do not know how to maintain hygiene during menstruation and to use reusable and other pads in our village. We learned how to manage hygiene during menstruation. We learned about menstruation and use of reusable pads. We also learned about uterus and how it’s works. During the training we learned how the babies happen which will help us in the future when will be the good time to have babies and marriage. DFG pads are very useful for us because we can wash it and use it again and again. DFG pads are easy to carry around when we go out.”

Besides conducting distributions and trainings, our Nepal team continues to support our Enterprise Leaders who are working hard to keep up with the demand for Kits. Despite Covid lockdowns, Maya and her team continue their advocacy efforts with the following recent accomplishments: 

• Maya was asked to serve on a committee to decide what information to include in a national MH curriculum.
• The team recruited volunteers who they trained in Ambassador of Women’s Health, they can now lead community MH outreach.
• Miss Nepal and Maya joined efforts to discuss MH on multiple local radio programs.
• Maya participated in a MH panel in India to discuss DfG’s successful Social Enterprise Program.
• DfG Nepal has been collecting and analyzing MH data from small, rural villages in the region to help their advocacy efforts.
• Our Nepal office submitted a report for an online essay contest for MH Day, resulting in a 43% increase in their social media presence in the region.

These, and other accomplishments have been successful because of your continued support. Thank you for being part of DfG’s global effort to shatter the shame surrounding menstruation. “By changing the narrative from shame to celebration, we know what is possible.” --Maya Khaitu

Namaste!