Project Duration: March 2018 to present

Project Objectives

(1) Conducting trainings and workshops to educate girls and women about menstruation and menstrual hygiene:

• Knowledge exchange about biological and medical aspects of female menstruation
• Training for the use of sanitary napkins
• Reducing the social taboo and upgrading the lives of girls and women during their menses through education campaigns within the communities
• Advising community leaders and assemblies to facilitate the handling of menstruation for girls and women (e.g. setting up of sanitation systems within communities and schools that are more susceptible to menstruation)

(2) Implementation of health camps for the treatment of menstrual disorders:

• Treatment of illnesses and health problems related to menstrual complexities or disorders of girls and women by gynecologists
• Additional education on menstrual hygiene by gynecologists
• Support communities to establish a long-term strategy to ensure regular medical care for girls and women

(3) Construction of a local production facility for the production of inexpensive, reusable sanitary napkins (max. 35 BDT/month/person)

• Training local women to create local napkin makers
• Reuse of untreated textile waste from Bangladesh’s textile industry under BGMEA to reduce production costs and increase national environmental impact
• Establishment of an adapted financing model for women in extreme poverty

(4) Establishment of a mobile supply unit that regularly delivers sanitary products purchased centrally from regional markets as well as locally produced sanitary napkins to the villages in the project area. This will help to connect remote villages with the supply structure for hygiene products and support the resident girls and women.

(5) Development of an economically viable model for the production and distribution of high quality and low cost sanitary napkins in rural areas of Bangladesh and advice on building a “social enterprise” through:

• Achieving multiplier effects and trans-regional dissemination of the concept as a sustainable business model
• Promoting local autonomy and economic independence from external donors
• Creating local jobs, strengthening the economic situation of the region

After the successful pilot phase, an economically self-sustaining continuation of the napkin production and distribution of the local “social enterprises” as well as a dissemination of the workshop and educational content by volunteer women in the neighboring areas of the project area is in progress.

Funded by: ASCEND e.V. Germany