Kwanda
Kwanda logo mark
Complete
Started: 14 Apr 2021
Completion date: 15 June 2021
Fund capital used

$1,510

Partner:
  • Relevant Data
  • Region
    🇰🇪 Kenya
  • Sector
    💊 Health
About

This project will provide 230 girls in Wamunyu with reusable sanitary pad kits.

Kenya Connect works with 50 primary and 12 secondary schools in the rural Mwala sub-county of Machakos to get students into schools and enrich the quality of the education they receive. They will oversee the kits' manufacture and distribution and provide menstrual education to the girls and the wider community.

Challenge

When girls lack period products, they miss 3-5 days of school per month. This means up to 65 days per year or nearly 20% of the school year lost to lack of access to period products.

Other issues they have noted include girls trading sex for period products (risking pregnancy and STIs), lack of suitable means to dispose of synthetic pads resulting in environmentally unfriendly options such as burning, burial or disposal in pit latrines, and a lack of robust menstrual education to empower girls to understand their bodies and their rights.

Solution

We will fund the provision of 230 Wings Poa reusable sanitary pad kits to 230 girls across 10 of Kenya Connect's partner schools over 8 weeks. Kenya Connect will commission local women to create the kits using sewing machines that Kenya Connect provided to them in 2018 to kick-start sustainable sewing businesses.

Each girl will receive a kit that contains two Wings Poa shields, ten flannel liners, two pairs of panties, a drawstring bag to carry the materials, and instructions in Kiswahili and English on how to use and care for the kit. Kenya Connect estimates that these kits will last the girls for a year, on average.

Three Kenya Connect team members - Margaret Mutune, Ether Muinde and Monicah Kyalo - will also deliver menstrual health education to girls, boys, and parents within the community to get their buy-in for the Wings Poa program and help them to become better advocates for their girls. The hope is to empower the entire community to provide a safe and supportive environment for growing girls.

Impact

Since Kenya Connect started providing Wings Poa kits two years ago, girls no longer miss school during their periods. Girls and their communities also have a better understanding of menstruation, which has been slowly breaking down the stigma around menstruation. This project is an investment into these girls' future success while also supporting the locally-owned supply chain that manufactures the kits. Kenya Connect will conduct follow-up surveys with the girls to gather feedback on the product, improve their program, and ensure continued success.

Updates

From the field

Following up on the girls in Wamunyu.

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 13 Aug 2021

Kenya Connect, our partners on the ground, have conducted a three-month check-in with the girls who received reusable sanitary pad kits.

Overall, they are observing that girls and their families have reduced their household costs as they are no longer having to purchase disposable pads. Girls are also staying in school and staying healthier as they have a safe and sanitary option for their periods.

The Wings Poa reusable pads project is complete!

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 15 Jun 2021

28 May is annual Menstrual Hygiene Day and was a very fitting day for our project in partnership with Kenya Connect to provide 230 girls with reusable sanitary pads kits to get completed.

The final 69 girls at Nyaani Secondary School received their kits. They also celebrated Menstrual Hygiene Day by reciting poems and raising awareness of menstrual hygiene and how women and girls are affected by inadequate provision.

45 girls at St Pius Kaitha Secondary School have received their Wings Poa kits

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 1 Jun 2021

Margaret and the team have completed distribution at St Pius Kaitha Secondary School. They just have one more distribution to do to complete this project!

30 girls at Mwaasua Secondary School have received Wings Poa kits

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 30 May 2021

30 more girls have received kits in Wamunyu. The girls at Mwaasua Secondary School wanted to share the level of impact this will have on them. Many of their parents were not able to consistently afford period products. These girls will no longer miss school when they're on their period, which will have a big impact on their education!

36 girls at Kitile Primary School have received their Wings Poa kits!

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 29 May 2021

Margaret and the team have distributed kits to 36 girls at Kitile, with the redesigned and newly branded Wings Poa kits.

50 girls at Kikaso Primary School have received their Wings Poa kits

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 28 May 2021

The Kenya Connect team are distributing pads this week! 50 girls at Kikaso Primary School have received their kits.

Each girl receives a package that consists of: two shields, ten liners, one pulse, one drawstring bag, a pair of panties, a brochure and a menstrual calendar.

All 230 girls have been trained in menstrual health

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 26 May 2021

All 230 girls have now received their menstrual health and hygiene training. 36 girls have been trained at Kitile Primary School, 69 girls at Nyaani Secondary School, 45 girls at St Pius Kaitha Secondary School, 50 girls at Kikaso Primary School and 30 girls at Mwaasus Primary School.

The team at Kenya Connect have been screen printing the bags the kits will be presented in, ready for distribution this week!

Sewing of the menstrual kits is complete!

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 18 May 2021

Exciting news! The seamstresses in Kenya have completed sewing the 230 kits, which will be distributed to girls in a few days.

Demo on how to insert liners
In the meantime, Margaret, our project lead on the ground, visited Kitile primary school last week and met with 36 girls in Grades 5, 6 and 7. She trained them on menstrual hygiene, different period products and how to use and dispose of them. We are told that students were very attentive and asked many intelligent questions. They were issued sticky notes so they could ask questions anonymously.

Students learning how to use Wings Poa product
From this first session, it was clear that many of the girls have inadequate knowledge about menstruation, partly because of the secrecy and stigma that surrounds it. It was also clear that the lack of sanitary pads is a key barrier to optimal menstrual hygiene management.

Elizabeth delivers sanitary supplies
Kenya Connect staff will continue to deliver training in the next two weeks before distributing the kits, which are being cleaned and packed.

Sewing will get completed this week

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 12 May 2021

The four seamstresses making the reusable pad kits have completed making 160 out of 230 kits. The image shows Elizabeth - one of the seamstresses - working on the shields.

Kenya Connect anticipates that the seamstresses will finish sewing the remaining 70 kits by the end of this week. They will then spend the next couple of weeks cleaning the completed pads, ironing them, and packaging them ready for distribution at the end of May.

Meanwhile, schools in Wamunyu are reopening. Kenya Connect staff members will begin training the girls about menstrual hygiene and about the Wings Poa reusable pads over the next two weeks or so.

116 out of 230 Wings Poa kits have been made so far.

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 21 Apr 2021

Hey, villagers.

We have another great update from Kenya!

There are four seamstresses working on this project: Peninah, Domianah, Phoebe and Elizabeth. Together, they have sewn 116 out of 230 of the Wings Poa reusable sanitary pad kits so far. 

Our project is helping a mother fund her daughter's university education

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 17 Apr 2021

Kenya Connect shared this message from Peninah, one of the seamstresses they have commissioned to sew the Wings Poa kits.

Peninah said: "I am so excited to make reusable sanitary pads for girls. I have been worried about how I would take my daughter to university next year. With the earnings from this project my daughter will join campus next year."

Peninah's daughter will now get to study Electrical Engineering at Machakos University next year!

This is an exciting example of the deep level of impact the Kwanda village makes possible.

Kit sewing in progress

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 16 Apr 2021

Hey, villagers.

We've received another update from Kenya. Making of the pads is underway and work is progressing well. 

In this video you'll find Margaret, our project lead on the ground, giving us an update on how work on the project is progressing, and Peninah, one of the seamstresses, sewing the Wings Poa kits. 

Funds received by Kenya Connect

Posted by Rumbi

Posted 14 Apr 2021

We're excited to be working on another project to provide reusable sanitary pads to young girls in Africa!

Kenya Connect, our partner on the ground, has confirmed that funds have arrived and seamstresses have begun the process of making the reusable pads.

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