Hefty Canadian investment keeps girls in school and out of hiding
Funding to improve access to sanitary products
It is something so simple but it can make the world of difference.
Access to sanitary products in East Africa is bringing thousands of girls and women out of hiding and into classrooms and jobs thanks to ZanaAfrica, a non-profit created by American Megan Mukuria and partially funded by Grand Challenges Canada.
Using a $2.4-million investment announced Thursday, Mukuria’s goal is to supply150,000 women with sanitary products in 2016. That translates into roughly 1.2 million sanitary pads every month.
A schoolgirl without sanitary pads, which are too costly for many when imported, can miss up to six weeks of class every year, said Mukuria. Embarrassment, shame and a lack of understanding of what is happening to their bodies can keep the girls inside and away from school, their friends and employment.
It is also a hygiene issue — some women are forced to use rags, newspapers, bark and banana leaves, or go with nothing at all.
When Mukuria sought to expand ZanaAfrica and reach more women, she approached Dr. Peter Singer, chief executive officer of Grand Challenges, to ask the fund to invest in the Nairobi-based business.
Singer, who believed in the project and in Mukuria’s determination, delivered. She’s already helping 20,000 women in Kenya, and he believes she can do more.
Grand Challenges will contribute $1 million to ZanaAfrica; another $1.4 million will come from private sector donors such as TripAdvisor and various foundations. Grand Challenges receives its funding from the Canadian government.
The $2.4 million will allow ZanaAfrica to scale up production of sanitary products, train workers and educate girls about menstruation.
“When it comes to the developing world, availability of menstrual pads equals ability to attend and perform at school.
“It is just so wrong so many girls in the developing world miss significant amounts of school days because of their inability to access a simple product we take for granted in Canada,” said Singer.
Grand Challenges previously gave Mukuria a start-up grant, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Now, Grand Challenges is investing in ZanaAfrica’s expansion.
“What this shows you is that innovation doesn’t have to be compli-
“The girls just light up when they see the products and read the comics.” MEGAN MUKURIA ZANAAFRICA FOUNDER
cated,” said Singer on Thursday.
Affordable menstrual health management is a fundamental human right, Mukuria said from Boston, where she is attending the 21st biannual conference of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research.
“We can show, very clearly, how women and girls’ ability to manage their periods changes their lives, their choices, their abilities to negotiate relationships and sexuality according to their own terms,” she said.
ZanaAfrica trains and employs women to visit Kenyan villages and hand out packages containing the sanitary pads and underwear. The packages even have comics explaining how to use them.
“The girls just light up when they see the products and read the comics.
“They are finally getting honest answers to their real questions that they’ve never been given permission to vocalize,” she said.