PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
In some regions of Nepal, menstruation is still a taboo subject. Girls and women must not enter the kitchen or prepare food during their periods. Sometimes girls have to leave home during their first period and go to their extended families. There are also places where the legally prohibited custom of chhaupadi – which means that both girls and women cannot stay at home overnight during menstruation – is practised. Instead, they have to spend their nights in sheds with the animals. It is believed that a menstruating woman is unclean.
A survey carried out in 2017 in rural areas of Nepal, conducted on 150 girls, showed that only 6% of them considered menstruation to be a natural process, while 82% thought of it as a curse. 76% of girls reported that they had no source of information about menstruation – no one talked to them about it, either at school or in the family. When asked whether girls can go to school during their menstruation, over 70% answered no. In these rural areas, only 2% of pupils used sanitary towels, and 98% used scraps of material instead of hygiene products. Only 4% of girls reported to take a bath every day during their periods.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANISATION
Days for Girls is an international organisation for the education of girls and women in reproductive health. It also helps people who are socially excluded due to menstruation in different parts of the world.
In Nepal, Days for Girls works primarily in the Kalikot District, where the chhaupadi tradition is still practised. Few women there have access to hygiene products and knowledge of how to use them, and menstruation is considered to be something shameful and unclean. The organisation conducts training for both boys and girls in Kalikot. During this training, boys acquire the necessary knowledge about the processes taking place inside the body during adolescence, and girls learn how to take care of their reproductive health. They also receive sets of reusable eco-friendly sanitary towels.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Days for Girls Nepal organises reproductive health training for 2,000 women living in Kalikot District thanks to the support of the Kulczyk Foundation. During the trainings, the beneficiaries receive sets of reusable sanitary towels, which serve them for years to come.
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