Menstrual hygiene – Elgon Girl Foundation

Menstrual hygiene and making of reusable sanitary towels (Sanitary Pads)

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your generous support to the Elgon Girl Foundation.

My name is Titi Gloria, founder of the Elgon Girl Foundation situated in Bumukonya Village Nakasti Subcounty Bududa District Eastern Uganda.

If you have specific questions about how your support is being used or our organization as a whole, please don’t hesitate to e-mail us at [email protected] or visit www.elgongirlfoundation.org.ug

Am passionate about helping vulnerable girls and young women in my community with a vision of fostering the development of adolescent girls and young women in order for them to realize their full potential.

My mission is to empower adolescent girls and young women with accurate information and skills to address social- Economic inequalities, SGBV, Sexual Reproductive health, Education, and life skills promotion from a gender perspective for self-reliance and social inclusion.

The CBO (community-based Organization) utilizes holistic and multi-sectoral strategies to reach out to adolescent girls and young women with interventions that address the legal, economic, and social factors that directly or indirectly impact their well-being.

These factors include poverty, lack of education, social capital, and gender-based violence, along with inadequate access to rights-based reproductive healthcare and comprehensive sexuality education.

The Elgon Girl Foundation put forward Core Program Areas with evidence-based interventions intended to operate “synergistically” at the grassroots to identify focal problems within particular communities and utilize participatory approaches in coming up with applicable and sustainable alternatives.

The CBO focuses majorly on empowering adolescent girls and young women through life skilling in order to be determined and resilient to develop to greater heights.

We are now in the need of tailoring and locking machines to empower adolescent girls and young women with vocational training skills (tailoring). By doing this, we empower them to start small businesses and create a better life for themselves and their families, and to be financially independent to meet their needs.

This is as well be a key factor in promoting Menstrual hygiene by making reusable sanitary towels (pads) for Adolescent girls and young women of a reproductive age who fail to manage their menstruation periods due to a lack of gender sensitivity and affordability of pads or sanitary towels which is a big problem for school-going girls and young women in rural areas of Bududa district in Eastern Uganda.

In my home area, “Menstruation is seen as a taboo!” Women's rights to reproductive health have been repeated by the United Nations as an individual human rights issue. Although various policies and programs have been implemented with regard to menstrual hygiene, it is still regarded as a cultural taboo in Uganda. Today there are places where silence, shame, and stigma surround menstruation and menstrual hygiene suggesting a need for social change and further attention at the global level.

Menstruation is considered dirty by many Ugandans, resulting in adolescent girls and young women being isolated and prohibited from expressing themselves freely, for instance going to public places (entering temples, attending auspicious occasions), and for the school going girls, it has made them fail to attend school for three to five days every month which leads to poor performance and early school dropouts.

At this moment, we don't have enough funding to cater for 500 adolescent girls and young women. We, therefore, seek help to enable us to purchase tailoring machines and locking machines worth $7,000 equivalent to 25,000,000 Ugandan shillings by the end of 2022.

Elgon Girl Foundation has been involved in training girls at the school level and community people (women and men) in making reusable sanitary towels through local materials that are available and affordable.

By doing this, many girls will be kept in school because they can make their own pads using the local materials provided to them, and are easy to use at any time anywhere.

On behalf of the foundation (Elgon Girl Foundation), I sincerely will appreciate any donation.

Thank you.

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