Providing Sanitary towels, undergarments, hygiene education and HIV/Aids awareness to sexually active women in Kiambu County.

Providing Sanitary towels, undergarments, hygiene education and HIV/Aids awareness to sexually active women in Kiambu County.

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Created: October 7, 2011
Last Update: October 26, 2011

By providing poor and marginalized girls sanitary towels, undergarments and hygiene education we are seeing academic performance of girls going higher which means the a better life. The project also educates young women on HIV/Aids transmission and prevention aiming at reduction of HIV prevalence which is almost 3 times higher on women than men in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to UNICEF 2007 report, A girl who is absent from school for 4 days every month loses 13 learning days which is equivalent to 2 weeks of learning in every school term. A girl in primary school between grades 6 and 8 (3 years) loses approximately 18 weeks out of 108 school weeks. • A girl in high school (4 years) loses 156 learning days which is equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of school. This is a clear indication that a girl child is a school drop-out while still in school. In some urban slums girls are known to dig through garbage dumps looking for used sanitary towels which they wash and reuse. We have knowledge in some rural areas within Kiambu County where girls are known to use leaves, dirty rags etc. Some girls share their sanitary towels (usually scrap cloth) with their mothers. All of these practices exposes them to diseases, discomfort, loss of dignity. FOHYIG have been actively responding to this need by soliciting donations from well wishers and supply the needy girls with sanitary towels and under pants. The project also educate young women on HIV/Aids transmission and prevention aiming at reduction of HIV prevalence which is almost 3 times higher on women than men in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The program will strive to ensure needy girls remain in school during their menses therefore providing them with sanitary towels and undergarments and hygiene education. UNAIDS have estimated that around three quarters of all women with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa yet there scantly are exclusive women target measures to reverse this, many project here conduct an all inclusive HIV/Aids education some of which is irrelevant to women’s vulnerability. This project will exclusively target sexually active women in active HIV/Aids education prevention and transmission. The project will employ use of men in reaching out to other men urging them to support measures that reduce women’s HIV/Aids vulnerability.

-Providing Sanitary towels & undergarments to poor women -Conducting Hygiene education and awareness on personal diagnosis checks for breast cancer and genital disorders. -Conducting HIV/Aids awareness capitalizing on prevention and transmission to women.

Kiambu District is one of the seven districts in Central Province. The district covers an area of 1,323.9 sq Km² and is the smallest district in Central Province. It borders Nairobi City and Kajiado District to the south, Nakuru District to the west, Nyandarua District to the northwest and Thika to the east. The district lies between latitudes 0°75′ and 1° 20′ south of Equator and longitudes 36° 54′ and 36° 85′ east. It has a population of 744,010. The larger Kiambu County has 1.6m people. Kiambu County populous live below one dollar. Poverty levels are extremely high contributed by lack of land, extended families share small potions of land because of dense population; this leaves many without farming lands. The proximity of Kiambu to Nairobi city makes migration of commercial sex workers a norm which only promotes the HIV/Aids spread. HIV/Aids prevalence stands at 8% higher than national prevalence which is 6.3%. The socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDs in the district include the highs school drop out rates, female and children headed families, loss of manpower and high mortality and morbidity rates, orphans etc. Lack of economic empowerment, education and information has made number of women in leadership and elective positions very low.

Innovation Stage
5. Scaling
4. Established
3. Growth
2. Start-up
1. Idea
Meet the Team

Growth Tracker

Milestone 2 of 3
Start
10/07/11
End
10/07/11
Impact Report
Sanitary towels program impacts more girls making us to wins 2nd Prize in 2010 Out of the Box Prize from Kansas University-USA
Date 12/31/69
SHORT HISTORY
Impact Report
KU center names winners of global community development competition
Date 12/31/69
FOR RELEASE February 15, 2011 KU center names winners of global community development competition Contact: Stephen Fawcett, Ph.D., director (sfawcett@ku.edu) or Christina Holt, associate director (cholt@ku.edu), KU Work Group for Community Health and Development, (785) 864-0533 Recognizing grass-roots efforts to improve the lives of impoverished, marginalized populations around the globe was the goal of the first Out of the Box competition organized by the University of Kansas Work Group for Community Health and Development.
Impact Report
KU center names winners of global community development competition
Date 12/31/69
FOR RELEASE February 15, 2011 KU center names winners of global community development competition Contact: Stephen Fawcett, Ph.D., director (sfawcett@ku.edu) or Christina Holt, associate director (cholt@ku.edu), KU Work Group for Community Health and Development, (785) 864-0533 Recognizing grass-roots efforts to improve the lives of impoverished, marginalized populations around the globe was the goal of the first Out of the Box competition organized by the University of Kansas Work Group for Community Health and Development.
Milestone
Ensure uninterrupted supply of sanitary towels to 300 poor girls in Kiambaa division
Date of Completion 02/29/12
Enhance local fundraising aiming to raise 65% of the support from local community
Completed
Enhance international fundraising and publicity accounting for 45% of support
Completed
Fund-raise for workers and volunteer stipends for smooth running of the program
In Progress
Reach for government support for this program targeting 35% support
Completed
Increase distribution points in all major villages and coffee plantations
Completed
Milestone
Scale up our reach to cover the broader Kiambu County targeting approximately 10,000 poor girls
Target Completion Date 06/30/12
Enhance local and government fundraising to account for 55% support
In Progress
Enhance international publicity and fundraising to account for 45% support
Completed
Prepare and duplicate 10,000 HIV/Aids manuals and posters targeting young women
Completed
Enhance collaboration and networking with learning institutions, women groups, faith and community based organizations.
Completed
Milestone
Set up a manufacturing plant or workshop to make re-usable napkins in Kiambu County
Target Completion Date 06/30/13
Raise publicity of the program internationally and locally.
In Progress
Developing business plans and strategy mapping
In Progress
Solicit for donor information and develop proposals
In Progress
Access of funds and ground breaking
In Progress
Setting up a hybrid project that would manufacture sanitary towels for free distribution and for sale for sustainability.
In Progress
Milestone 2
Scale up our reach to cover the broader Kiambu County targeting approximately 10,000 poor girls

Milestone: Ensure uninterrupted supply of sanitary towels to
In order to reach our peak meaning provide free or cost effective sanitary towels to wider reach will mean that we need to manufacture environmentally friendly sanitary napkins. To achieve this we nee
Milestone: Ensure uninterrupted supply of sanitary towels to
Dec 31 2012
We need organization which we can network with so as to gain more effectiveness. We will be glad to serve as conduit of information, sanitary towels and any other materials that would better the lives

Nov 30 2013
Offer: I will be glad to give insights, share experiences and challenges surrounding girl development in sub-Saharan Africa. I can share experiences on issues surrounding the need of sanitary napkins
Dec 31 2011
Our initiative reaches to about 250 girls, there is increasing demand to reach out to more needy girls with sanitary towels and especially with HIV/Aids awareness. However, we are not able to reach ou
Apr 30 2012
Our third milestone is to set up a manufacturing plant or a workshop with simple machines for making re-usable sanitary towels. We would be very happy to access knowledge and information that would he

Comments & Activity

Comments

Changemakers Site Admin profile img
Wed, 02/01/2012 - 04:54

Great idea! Good luck with the initiative.
Rares, Changemakers team

James Waruiru profile img
Wed, 03/14/2012 - 11:32

Thank you Rares. and thanks to the entire Changemakers team!

Aditi Shekar profile img
Fri, 02/03/2012 - 16:28

James, glad you're talking to Jessica - she's got lots to contribute on this front. I know MIT has also done some work on this subject and may be willing to share their work...

Wed, 02/08/2012 - 06:05

:)

Wed, 02/15/2012 - 06:10

Hi,
I think that your program is doing great work!
Here are some links to Foundations that focus their grant-making activities towards empowering women in Africa:
The New Field Foundation (http://www.newfieldfound.org/grants.priorities.html), African Women's Development Fund (http://www.awdf.org/the-process/grant-making/grant-application-guidlines), Mama Cash (http://www.mamacash.org/page.php?id=2054; funding priorities - http://www.mamacash.org/page.php?id=2061), M.A.C Aids Fund (http://www.macaidsfund.org/#/fund/mission; grant application information - http://www.macaidsfund.org/#/work/application), The David & Lucille Packard Foundation (http://www.packard.org/what-we-fund/population-reproductive-health/sub-s...), IKEA Foundation (http://ikeafoundation.org/OUR-PARTNERS/Women-on-Wings.aspx).
Your focus on educating women on HIV/AIDS prevention and transmission and introducing concrete measures to improve their personal hygiene will play a crucial role in empowering them and enabling them to receive a better education. Please let me know if you would like me to do additional research on foundations in your area of interest.