Pads for Progress aims to produce and supply reusable sanitary pads to disadvantaged girls in and around the Kakamega area in an effort to support gender equality in schools. The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 10 school-aged girls in Africa miss one or more days each month during their menstruation. In a country such as Kenya where GPA and class rank based scholarships play a integral role in a student’s ability to attend a secondary school or even a university, a lack of sanitary supplies puts girls at a significant academic disadvantage.
While on this trip I have seen gender discrimination that I could not have even imagined before I came here. Women and girls are not given as many educational opportunities or encouragement and are therefore forced into a cycle of financial dependency on men. Due to this lack of education, women currently also make up 75% of the agricultural labor force in Kenya. I have talked with numerous women, some educated and some not, about this problem and all have led me to the same conclusion: If we can fight to make women financial independent by providing them with equal education and academic support as well as providing them with income generating activities, we will have taken the first step towards gender equality in Kenya and in Africa.
Pads for Progress addresses both of these ideas. The project provides a unique business opportunity in the form of an income generating activity to select tailoring girls from disadvantaged backgrounds by teaching them how to make the reusable pads and providing them with business enterprise training. At the same time this project also aims to buy the pads from the girls and supply them to disadvantaged school girls in the ACCES schools in order to keep these girls from missing school during their menstruation. Too many NGOs, like ACCES, and individual Kenyan girls struggle to buy sufficient disposable pads to keep them in school during their menstruation. One reusable pad kit can be washed and reused for up to five years, proving these NGOs and girls with a more economical, sustainable, and environmentally friendly way to handle their periods while staying in school.
Pads for Progress has already been under way for about three weeks now. The girls have finished the first couple samples to provide in a pilot run of the product to 40 girls in one of the ACCES schools. Some of the tailoring girls have even asked if they can make some for themselves and their friends which speaks to the potential popularity of this project! After the pilot run the product will be modified on the basis of questionnaires evaluating the efficiency of the product and then opened up to the greater Kakamega market by the tailoring girls and with the help of ACCES.
I truly believe this project has a huge potential in the Kakamega market as well as in the greater Kenyan market. However, in order to continue the project, I am looking for funding to ensure the long-term sustainability and expansion of the project. I have begun an online fundraising campaign which ends on Friday, June 26 and which you can access at http://fsdinternational.org/donate/projects/Lang.
This is just one project to help alleviate the gender inequality in Kenya, but I really believe that it can go a long way. If it does nothing else, it will certainly change the lives of the eight tailoring girls who I have hand-picked to help lead the project, but I know it is going to do a lot more. I would really appreciate any support you can offer and the website allows for direct tax-free donations that you can make with your credit card. Thank you so much in advance for your help!
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