PROPOSAL ON

MENSTRUAL HEALTH AND HYGIENE

AMONG WOMEN WORKERS AND ADOLESCENT GIRLS

IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

Submitted By:

Smile Foundation

161 B/4, 3rd Floor, Gulmohar House

Yusuf Sarai Community Centre
New Delhi-110049
About Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation was set up in 2002 by a group of professionals in New Delhi, India. It is a national level
development organization that focuses on underprivileged children, youth and women. Currently its interventions
are directly benefitting over 15,00,000 children and their families every year, through more than 400 live welfare
projects on education, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums
across 26 states of India. SMILE Foundation as part of its civic driven approach model also builds capacity of
grassroots organisations, with a vision to develop and establish a fully self-supporting in-country funding
mechanism. Please visit our website www.smilefoundationindia.org for more information about SMILE.

Swabhiman- An Integrated Approach to Women Empowerment

Swabhiman, meaning self-respect in English, was initiated in 2005 by Smile Foundation to address the challenges
faced by women through a simple yet effective approach. The programme is specifically aimed at realization of both
individual and collective self-esteem and inner strength for marginalised and socially excluded women and
adolescent girls through innovative community practices.

Swabhiman takes and integrative approach towards empowerment of women by focussing on education, health and
economic opportunities as key towards realization of the above-mentioned goal. It does not only lead to
enhancement and development of women’s/ adolescent girls’ individual capacity and life in general but also
contributes to sustainable development of the country.

Approach

Background and Rationale

It is important to reflect on issues of sanitation that directly affect girls and women, especially since they bear the
heaviest burden of poor sanitation facilities. The situation arising from a gap in facilities for women and girls to use
functional sanitation units leads to various health problems. Medical conditions such as RTI, UTI, chronic
constipation and mental stress.

In addition, the following pre-conditions also contribute to the difficulties that women and girls face during
menstruation:

 Approx. 50% of adolescent girls in India are underweight, 52% are anemic.1
 Unhygienic washing practices are followed in rural areas, especially with women from low socio-economic
background with 39% still defecating in open and 46% do not use hygienic methods of menstrual protection.2
 88% of women and girls use homemade alternatives (an old cloth, rags, hay, sand, or ash).

1
https://www.business-standard.com/article/health/half-of-indian-teenage-girls-underweight-anaemic-4-in-10-defecate-in-open-
118102900316_1.html
2
https://www.business-standard.com/article/health/half-of-indian-teenage-girls-underweight-anaemic-4-in-10-defecate-in-open-
118102900316_1.html
  Over half of all adolescent girls married before the age of 18 out of schools and over 50% facing domestic
violence, up to 95% dropping out of school.
 For the adolescent age group 11–13 years, the percentage of out-of-school children is much higher among
girls (10.03%) than boys (6.46%).
 At menarche, school girls do report their dominant feelings as:
o Shock (25%)
o Fear (30%)
o Anxiety (69%)
o Guilt (22%)
o Frustration (22%)
 40% of government schools lack separate “functional” toilets for girls
 Government of India has a mandate to provide support in menstrual hygiene management. This has been
brought in force by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, under its National Health Mission, as well as
the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. RKSK will have to give references to all and may categories
general problems first and then come to specific conditions.

Project Description

Objective- The overall objectives of the programme is

 To create awareness about menstrual hygiene and reproductive health

 To empower women and adolescent girls by informing and educating them on good health and life skills.
 To demystify stereotypes around menstruation amongst parents, teachers and community stakeholders

Target Population:

 Approximately 5000 adolescent girls from government schools

 Approximately 2000 women workers from organised and unorganized sector

Location- Nashik (Maharashtra)

Duration- 18 months (2 month action planning phase and 16 months operational phase)

Implementation Strategy

The project will be implemented in co-ordination and consultation with school principals, and in consensus with
Basic Shiksha Adhikari for the blocks and districts in government schools. Women working in organised and
unorganized sector will be mobilized from communities in the identified locations. Subject matter expert will take
intensive sessions with women in communities and schools girls and explain to the them various aspects that effect
the menstrual health of a girl/woman in her lifetime. Project will have a competent team with past experience of
carrying out menstrual health and SRH programmes.
The following activities will be carried out over a period:

Key Activities :

 Awareness on menstrual hygiene, sexual and reproductive health, government schemes etc. among
women working in organised and unorganised sector- Women working in organised and unorganised
sector such as factories, house helps, vendors etc. who work and live in in unhygienic surroundings and do
not have access to toilets and other sanitary facilities will be sensitised on menstrual hygiene practices, UTIs,
sexual and reproductive health practices, nutrition and anaemia, menopause etc.
 Awareness and Education among Adolescent girls: Awareness sessions will be conducted in. The sessions
will focus on:
 Face to face sensitization of girls in class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12
 Face to face sensitization of teachers on various health issues faced by adolescent girls at the time of
menarche
 Face to face sensitization of teachers on various health issues faced by women at the time of
menopause.
 Interaction with subject matter expert who will explain various aspects of menstruation and psycho-
social impact of the same
 The subject matter expert will clarify the myths and reality related to the issue
 Demonstration of using disposable aids to be used for menstrual hygiene
 Distribution of illustrative booklets on menstrual hygiene: Girls will be given a booklet in Hindi on
menstrual hygiene
 36 page colour illustrative booklet on hygiene maintenance during menstruation
 Booklet will also have period mapping chart
 All beneficiaries will be explained mapping menstruation every month
 Teachers will be sensitised to follow up with girls on menstrual cycle mapping
 Distribution of Hygiene Kits - Smile Foundation would distribute hygiene kits will be distributed to all the
beneficiaries. This would make the beneficiaries habituated to use the safe means during menstruation and
avoid unhygienic methods. Smile’s representatives will do the regular follow up so that the menstrual
practices being followed, which makes them to continue their studies without any breaks.
 Enrollment in Government Schemes for Menstrual Hygiene: For the sustainability of the project,
adolescent girls and women will be sensitized and linked to Menstrual Hygiene Scheme. The girls will also
be sensitized about the Jan Aushadhi Kendras of the Government of India where they can buy sanitary
napkins at a minimum price of INR 1/- (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1632082 ).
 Networking and Liasoning- This part of the intervention will involve linking up with the government
system, local stakeholders, local leaders, community health workers and other resource persons in order to
seek their support and referrals for the services available for community welfare.
Expected Outcome

Qualitative Outcome

 Adolescent Girls and women workers being more aware and sensitised on menstrual hygiene management.
 Adolescent Girls being better prepared to ‘deal with’ menarche and women being better prepared to deal with
menopause
 Incidence of absenteeism of girls from schools during menstruation will decrease
 Teachers in the schools being more aware about various health issues related to menarche and menopause
 Teachers and staff being motivated to continue to this initiative of awareness and sensitization of adolescent
girls at school level
 School Management Committee being influenced and motivated to support to schools and larger community

Quantitative Outcome

 Increased awareness on menstrual health and hygiene, SRH and life skills of XX no. of adolescent girls in
government schools.
 Increased awareness on menstrual health and hygiene, SRH and life skills for XX no. of women in organised and
unorganized sector.
 Increased awareness and knowledge of government schemes related to menstrual health and SRH among XX no.
of adolescent girls and women from organised and unorganized sector.

Impact Assessment

The impact of this project will be assessed by mapping the following:

 Increase in level of awareness of girls and teachers on menstruation and its management. This will be mapped
by analysis of the questionnaire filled by girls and women before the sensitization session and after 4-5 months
of sensitization session.
 Increase in practice of hygienic methods for menstrual health.
 Awareness about sanitation and hygiene among the children, teachers and staff

Assumptions, opportunities and risks

 Social taboos and orthodox mindset intertwined with apprehension to adopt ‘modern’ practices at family level
may not permit adolescents and women to make an exit from practices followed through generations
 Conversations around safe sanitation practices, menstrual hygiene management may not happen due to bold
nature of the topics not been talked about openly