In a bid to combat period poverty in Uganda, the Uganda Red Cross Society together with Randal Charitable Foundation have launched a manufacturing plant targeting over 10,000 vulnerable school-going girls.
The Keep a Girl In School (KAGIS) Manufacturing Plant in Namakwa, Mukono District aims at significantly improving the lives of up to 50,000 Ugandan girls and women by manufacturing 200,000 reusable sanitary pads annually.
The officials say that of the 200,000, 20 percent will be given to 10,000 vulnerable girls in school, free of charge – directly helping to tackle missed educational opportunities for girls with the rest sold to the wider community at a subsidized price in addition to training in making and marketing these pads to ensure the long-term viability of the manufacturing facility.
Speaking after the launch ceremony on Friday, Dr. Nik Kotecha, Founder and Chairperson of Trustees Randal Charitable Foundation, stressed the need to create an enabling environment for every young person to reach their full potential and that equal access to education for girls and boys was an essential part of it
“For many women and girls, poor access to high-quality sanitary pads, as well as to toilets and washrooms, is a huge barrier to attending school and results in seriously limiting future career choices,” he said.
The stigma around Menstrual hygiene has been reported as one of the leading causes of school dropouts for girls with many resorting to using inappropriate materials such as rugs torn from their old clothes, papers, pieces of old mattress foam, and leaves.
In rural communities, many women and girls have become housebound, and are forced to sit over a hole dug in the middle of their mud floors until the menstrual flow ends while those in schools who end up with blood on their clothes are often teased by teachers, boys, or other girls.
Reports show that every academic year, 18% of girls miss because of poor sanitary protection during their period.
Kotech said that the ground-breaking partnership with the Uganda Red Cross, therefore, meant assurance for a future free from “period poverty” for tens of thousands of women and girls each year benefiting from the wide-ranging outcomes including locally based jobs, training, and high-quality sanitary protection.
Ms Rachael McCormack, Chief Operating Officer for the Randal Foundation, also present added that the project thus aims at directly saving lives and significantly improving the quality of life for those in need in the UK and around the world.
“Missing school has a lasting, adverse impact, often meaning that girls go on to miss out on employment and other opportunities throughout life. We hope our project will ensure more women can complete their education and be able to make life choices which mean they can fulfill their true potential, ” Ms McCormack
Mr Robert Kwesiga, Secretary General of Uganda Red Cross Society, said “Keep A Girl in School has been an ongoing Menstrual Health Management initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Education and Sports however looking forward to scaling up production of re-usable pads to reach up to 100,000 – 150,000 women and girls in the next three years.
The new partnership, therefore, remained significant support in addition to partners like She for She, an indigenous organization that has experience in training community groups to sew pads and partnering with established local organizations to provide education and dialogue on menstruation and related menstrual hygiene management.
Kwesiga noted that while the first set of materials will be imported, the URCS will advocate for in-country factories to start producing the materials locally especially since it remains part of the URCS Health and Social Service Agenda under Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Interventions – which plays a crucial role around key issues such as health, education, protection and security of women and adolescent girls.
