Project Summary:

In Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, the world’s largest refugee settlement, approximately 85,000 women and girls of menstruating age lack access to basic menstrual hygiene products. This shortage negatively impacts their health, education, and overall quality of life, as highlighted by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). Many girls miss school, women are unable to work during their periods, and menstrual stigma continues to hinder progress within the community.
Signals from the Grassroots (SftG) is launching the "Her Period, Her Right" project to address these urgent challenges. Unlike traditional donation models, this initiative focuses on empowering women and girls by equipping them with the skills and resources to produce reusable sanitary pads, fostering self-reliance and sustainable change.

The Problem and Need for a Solution

Kakuma Refugee Camp is home to nearly 289,861 refugees, with 85,000 (30%) being women of menstruating age. These women and girls lack access to menstrual hygiene products, significantly impacting their education, health, and quality of life.
Persistent menstrual stigma creates an unsupportive environment for women and girls to thrive.
This project addresses the twin challenges of lack of menstrual products and stigma by promoting community-driven solutions that foster dignity, independence, and opportunity.

Implementation:

1. 1. Training and Production of Reusable Pads
1. Sewing Machines: Supply 3 sewing machines, one for each of the camp’s three of the seven operational zones (four areas in Kakuma and three villages in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement).
2. Training Pioneers: Train 10 women and girls in each zone as pioneers. These trainees will, in turn, mentor others, ensuring the skills spread across the community.
3. Production Materials: Provide essential materials such as fabrics, cotton sheets, threads, buttons, and sewing tools to produce 1,200 reusable pads during the project’s initial phase.
2. 2. Awareness and Community Engagement
1. Conduct awareness sessions aimed at dismantling menstrual stigma, engaging both men and women to create a supportive environment for girls and women.
2. Work closely with UNHCR Kenya, the governing body of Kakuma, to ensure local support, sustainability, and resource restocking for ongoing pad production.

Anticipated Results:

1. Production of 1,200 Reusable Pads: Addressing the menstrual needs of schoolgirls and women in Kakuma refugee camp.
2. Skill Development: Equip women and girls with tailoring skills they can use to produce pads or other goods, fostering financial independence.
3. Sustainability: By collaborating with UNHCR, ensure the ongoing production of pads and optimal use of sewing machines and resources.
4. Breaking the Stigma: Foster an inclusive and supportive environment through targeted community awareness programs.

Why This Project Matters

The "Her Period, Her Right" project is not just about addressing immediate menstrual needs; it’s about empowering women and girls to take control of their health, education, and futures. By providing skills, fostering dignity, and addressing stigma, this initiative lays the foundation for long-term community resilience and empowerment in Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Support this project:

You can support this project in 3 ways;

1. Buy Yourself a Project Shirt below
2. Make a Donation below
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We invite donors, partners, and advocates to join us in this impactful initiative to transform lives through sustainable solutions. Together, we can ensure that no woman or girl in Kakuma has to suffer due to a lack of menstrual hygiene products or face the stigma surrounding menstruation.

Project Summary:

This project aimed at addressing the alarming reality of 5 million girls dropping out of school in Uganda, and the staunch stigma surrounding menstruation in Uganda's rural areas.
The four-pronged approach involved:-

1. Menstrual Education: Sessions with both boys and girls combined were conducted to normalize conversations about menstruation and break the stigma surrounding it.
2. Breaking the Stigma: Separate sessions for boys focused on teaching them how to be supportive of their female peers during menstruation were conducted, helping to eliminate bullying and promote understanding.
3. Hygiene Training: Girls were educated on the proper use and care of reusable sanitary pads to prevent infections and ensure their health and safety.
4. Distribution: Giving sanitary pads and soaps to the girls.

Impact:

1. SftG distributed 2,000 pads and 2,000 antibacterial soaps to 1,000 schoolgirls in 8 schools across three of Uganda's most rural districts: Mayuge, Kiboga, and Rakai. Each girl received 2 pads and 2 Dettol soaps, allowing them to attend school consistently for over two years without menstrual concerns.
2. Educated boys to view menstruation as a natural process, breaking the stigma that has caused many girls to drop out of school due to fear and shame. This initiative created a conducive and safe environment for open discussions about menstruation.
3. 50 youth volunteers participated in awareness sessions, teaching girls how to use the sanitary pads safely and distributing pads and soap. This involvement allowed the youth to engage meaningfully in solving societal issues.

Background

Dialogue is the very heart of shaping our society. It is the starting point for many meaningful, sustainable and beneficial collaborations that bring greater growth and development in the quest for positive change.
However, despite youth having the will, passion and capability to make change, many of them lack the skill of holding an effective dialogue – something that is holding them back from transforming their passions into meaningful action.
This is a big threat in the struggle to ensure more youth engagement in decision-making processes.
This project aimed to primarily address this incompetence by building a culture of dialogue among young people.

Project Summary:

"Dialogue for the Future," was a 12-month long project of the year 2023 running from January to december. It was held on every second last Satuarday of the month.
This project aimed at equipping youth with formidable dialoging skills and knowledge so as to meaningfully take part in society defining meetings and discussions. It further aimed at deepening youths' understanding of dialogue as a critical aspect of constructive engagement and action by providing them a safe platform where they can share their experiences, knowledge and shed light on their projects.

Implementation:

Our dialogues were never events, but continuous processes in which youth got inspiration, motivation and knowledge to develop themselves and keep driving their actions of change. In these dialogues, young people interacted through speaking and listening to one another to understand the issues and challenges that they face, and together formulated ways of solving them.
We created channels—both online and in person—for young people to drive conversations. We used zoom and social media platforms like facebook and Instagram to work directly with young people to elevate their stories.
Every month, we held atleast one dialogue for each SDG. This means that for a month with three SDGs, the least number of dialogues was three. We arranged these SDGs in such a way that next moth's dialogue connected to the one before as shown below

Month	Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
January	GOAL 5: Gender Equality & GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality
February	GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
March	GOAL 1: No Poverty
April	GOAL 13: Climate Action
May	GOAL 2: Zero Hunger & GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
June	GOAL 4: Quality Education & GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
July	GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure & GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
August	GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
September	GOAL 15: Life on Land
October	GOAL 14: Life Below Water
November	GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
December	GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities & GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goals

Impact

'Dialogue For The Future' stimulated more than 90% of of our 4,000 members to take on actions at an individual stage by establishing their own initiatives to solve the most pressing problems in their communities. They have further embarked on volunteering and internships to actively engage in bettering their communities. This highlights the tangible shifts in behaviors that SftG is facilitating among young people.