Menstrual Dignity for Refugee Women

With the help of our amazing GlobalGiving donors, we are proud of the work we have done together in East Africa, bringing menstrual dignity to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). And now, we are thrilled to announce that we are broadening our reach to include Chad. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, refugees and IDPs have been left disproportionately vulnerable. Humanitarian responses often lack a gender inclusive lens and therefore fail to recognize the need for menstrual products and support. The menstrual needs of women and girls often go unmet, perpetuating misinformation and stigma. Currently, this problem is especially severe in Chad, which is suffering from multiple overlapping conflicts. Besides the ongoing struggles with the Pandemic, refugees and IDPs in Chad are suffering from ongoing internal development challenges, chronic poverty, the impact of climate change, and a tense socio-economic environment.

In addition to the recently returned 115,000 citizens, Chad hosts Sudanese refugees in the east, Central African refugees in the south, and more than 15,000 Nigerian refugees from Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad region. Your generous donations are key to our outreach mission to these women and girls across all of these populations.

Using your gifts, we are currently collecting, shipping, and will soon begin distributing our patented, long-lasting Days for Girls menstrual Kits in Chad. Along with the Kits, women and girls will receive vital health education. Our health curriculum includes anatomy, hygiene, the menstruation cycle, proper handwashing techniques, self defense, and human trafficking. We will soon provide the tools and knowledge necessary to give a sense of control in a climate too often punctuated with chaos.

None of this would be possible without your generous support. Thank you for your dedication to bringing dignity to some of the world’s most vulnerable women and girls.

2020 was a hard year for all of us, but it was particularly hard for the world’s most vulnerable populations. For this reason, your support for African refugee women and girls has been so important. At Days for Girls, our mantra for the past year has been Periods Don’t Stop for Pandemics. Your support made it possible for us to continue to bring important tools and education to refugees in Africa despite the barriers.

Utilizing key partners in the field, 4,082 DfG menstrual Kits were distributed to refugees in Somalia in 2020. Similar projects are planned for refugee women and girls in South Sudan in early 2021. Target populations include displaced women and girls who fled their homes due to drought, food insecurities, and conflict. Besides menstrual health training, other goals for these projects include reducing gender-based violence against women and children and strengthening reporting mechanisms for child protection. A partner reported: “Receiving the DfG Kits helped women and girls feel valued, in the knowledge that something so beautiful was designed especially for them, ‘to help them feel appreciated.’” 

Story from the Field: “Sahara [age 15] shared the challenges of managing her period in a cultural context that marks menstruation as ‘shameful’. ‘At my age of puberty, by 12 years, one day while I was at school [and] I experienced bleeding. The cause of bleeding [was] unknown since I was the only daughter of our house. I [felt] shocked and stress[ed] about bleeding. I was using my head cover and fabric materials for pads. One day, my mother gave me a piece of fabric, and she told me not to tell anyone about my situation, since it [is] shameful to discover the issue of menstruation. [At] age of 13 years, I experienced symptoms of pain in [my] lower abdomen … and burning sensation when urinating. I [went] to hospital and my doctor told me that I have urinary tract infection [due] to use of unhygienic pads during menstruation.’ With her new Days for Girls Kit, Sahara feels confident to manage her menstruation with dignity: ‘Now, I am very happy to participate in Days for Girls and receive this reusable kit.’”

Our work would not be possible without the support of our incredible donors. Thanks to your gift through GlobalGiving, girls like Sahara now have the tools they need to stay healthy and the education to make informed decisions about their own bodies. These girls can now lead the charge to help other women and girls in their communities to change menstrual stigmas, stay in school, and end period poverty. And thanks to you, all of this was made possible, even during a pandemic! 

More than six months of the Covid-19 pandemic have shown us that girls and women across the globe need continued access to resources to help them maintain dignity during their periods. This is especially true in vulnerable refugee populations in Africa. The need for social distancing to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus has forced us to be creative in how we continue our vital work. But we can confidently report that our work and our mission have continued. This is largely due to your support in helping us continue. Thank you!

Much of our renewed focus has been on our social enterprise program; making sure our enterprise leaders have all that they need to continue creating DfG menstrual Kits in their communities and to refugee populations. We are proud to report that even amid growing unemployment in Africa, our enterprises have not slowed down. Our shift to including washable masks in our menstrual Kits has been a huge success; providing even more opportunities for our enterprise leaders.

Rwandan Enterprise Leader Ketsia recently wrote: “I thank DfG for upholding our dignity and helping us boost our confidence. DfG taught us principles of menstrual hygiene management and taught us to make reusable sanitary pads. … During this covid-19 lockdown, when no one is able to go out to buy disposable pads, we did not have any problems because we had reusables at home. That is why we thank DfG and we wish to scale our projects to reach many more women and girls.”

This is all possible because of your support and your contributions. Rest assured that the pandemic has not stopped us from creatively serving African refugees. Your donation to our GlobalGiving campaign continues to make it possible for us to reach Every girl. Everywhere. Period.

Thank you!

Thank you for choosing to support African refugee women and girls. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks in large part to your donations, our East African Enterprises have remained busy. With your donations as well as collaboration from a humanitarian aid organization, our Enterprise leaders have recently accomplished the following:

1. Provided a Training of Trainers course for partner staff in Ambassadors for Women’s Health  (AWH) and Men Who Know (MWK) curricula, equipping them with the tools and training they need to provide comprehensive menstrual health education in the refugee communities where they work.

2. Provided Days for Girls Kits and AWH education to at least 3,000 women and girls in refugee communities across East Africa.

3. Provided MWK education to men and boys in the same refugee communities across East Africa.

With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across Africa, many of our Enterprises have pivoted to sewing masks, while continuing to sew our patented menstrual products. Days for Girls continues to support the women and girls in those vulnerable communities with the tools they need to handle their periods safely and with dignity. 

We are so grateful for the opportunity to continue this important work. And your support has made this possible.

Thank you!

Thanks to your donation, we are helping girls who are learning to be proud and not fearful of their periods. Our programs work to shatter stigma and limitations associated with menstruation by giving them the tools and knowledge to end the silence. This allows for increased confidence in managing menstruation, increased body literacy, and decreased shame and embarrassment around puberty. As a result, communities view menstruation as healthy and positive and women and girls have a supportive environment to manage their periods to stay in school and enjoy life 

Each health education class opens up life-changing conversations about dignity and self-worth. This is where we celebrate girls and change the narrative from shame to celebration.

 
Thanks to you, these conversations have reached 1.7 million women and girls around the world!