Ending Period Poverty for rural girls in Tanzania.
“Girls in rural Tanzania face a toxic trio of barriers around their menstruation: significant cultural taboos & stigma; insufficient relevant menstruation education; & lack of access to safe & reusable sanitary pads. This leads to girls missing out on their education each month. Lyra’s will provide youth friendly menstruation education to rural students & their teachers as well as supply locally made reusable sanitary pads for rural girls, so they can fully engage in their education each month.”
This is the story of so many girls Lyra works with & the reason for our campaign on GlobalGiving.
Challenge
Access to safe, affordable menstrual products & relevant education is essential. However, for many rural girls, there are significant barriers to overcome each month: stigma that surrounds menstruation; lack of access to relevant, youth friendly, menstruation education and a lack of access to safe & reusable menstrual hygiene products. We see that over 80% of rural girls experience period poverty, missing 3-4 days of school each month, significantly impacting their overall academic performance.
Solution
Lyra's solution is to break taboos around menstruation & roll out youth friendly sessions, run by experienced Sexual and Reproductive Health trainers, to partner schools in Iringa region with WHO aligned material on menstruation, as well as topics to tackle misinformation about periods. The girls within these rural schools will receive a supply of locally made reusable sanitary pads so that they can manage their periods safely each month.
Long-Term Impact
The project will start to break misinformation around menstruation that hinders so many rural girls, leading to a shift in attitudes around menstruation and ultimately more rural girls being able to successfully attend school each month. By purposefully supporting small local enterprises to produce the reusable sani pads, the local economy is stimulated, encouraging market growth for reusable sani options. Further, the overall plastic footprint is reduced by choosing reusable sani options.
