Running for Somali girls and women

The cause: 10 people will run the Run2day Ladiesdamloop on 23 September for HIRDA. The money raised will go to a pilot of re-usable hygiene pads. HIRDA is looking for a sustainable solution to address the problems of menstruation for school girls through piloting re-usable hygiene pads, addressing both the access of hygiene pads as well as boosting (economic) empowerment of women; these will be the ones who will produce and sell the pads which will significantly increase their position in society as independent women. Context: In Somalia and among Somali ethnic groups in neighboring countries, enrolment rates in primary education are very low. The enrolment rates for girls stand at 25%, whereas the average enrolment rate is 38%. Most school girls drop out before graduating because they get married at a young age or because traditionally, parents see little benefit in schooling their daughters. More practical reasons for low enrolment and completion rates of girls are the lack of sanitary facilities for girls (latrines) and the lack of access to hygiene pads; hygiene pads are often not available or very expensive. The consequence of this low access to hygiene pads is that girls often stay at home 5-7 days a month which has serious negative impacts on their performance and motivation at school. Sometimes school girls use unsanitary cloths that can easily cause infection and weakens them physically which can haunt them all their lives. HIRDA has been working on education since 1998 and aims to give school aged children their right to education and create better perspectives for their future. HIRDA's focus is on promoting equal access for boys and girls and to create a more child friendly learning environment. Improved access to and enhanced quality of education will result in better job opportunities for school graduates. Over the years we have implemented a school hygiene project that has focused on improving the sanitary facilities. In her search to more sustainable solutions, HIRDA receives support from consultants who are voluntarily donating their time and effort to establish a solid business and marketing plan. This project will be a pilot with approximately 600 hygiene pads on several HIRDA supported schools in Abudwak in South Central Somalia. First, HIRDA will do a pilot with three different sustainable hygiene pads to gauge appreciation and objections to the project; this allows us to measure how sustainable pads are perceived by the local community, what needs to be done in order to convince them of the product, and which products is appreciated best. Hereafter, we will do a bigger pilot of 500 pads with the product that is best evaluated, identifying and training local women who will be distributing the pads via their business. This allows us to experiment with distribution channels, see how we can best establish these and what the women need in order to be able to sell these pads themselves after pilot. In addition, we will do a market research to see how the community responds to the product. By popularizing the product among the school girls we hope to take away any embarrassment about menstruation and hygiene pads. Considering the fact that menstruation is still a taboo topic we will need to raise awareness to make sure that the community accepts an intervention in this field.