Ever since our inception, we have worked with other organisations and companies to create impact in the community. In the field that we operate, collaborations are indispensable. Our goals are not of profit, rather of a positive change in the community, which is achievable only with a cooperative effort with everyone. Continuing in this spirit of alliance, Badlaav SRF has entered into collaboration with Pune Ploggers and Global Shapers Community Pune, two volunteer groups dedicated to bringing about lasting social change. The objective is to join forces to implement a structured and organised menstrual health management (MHM) programme for schools in and around Pune.
Why is Menstrual Health Management important?
A staggering 23 million girls in India drop out of school annually due to lack of proper information and access to MHM. They often drop out of school in higher secondary grades due to concerns regarding menstrual hygiene, availability of toilets in school, etc. The General Enrolment Ratio (GER) is generally found to be higher in those Indian states where girls and women have greater access to menstrual hygiene.
Tell me more about these initiatives
All three groups have been implementing their distinct initiatives primarily in and around Pune.
Pune Ploggers: Launched by Vivek Gurav in 2019, Pune Ploggers is a group of volunteers that conducts weekly plogging (Swedish for ‘picking up litter while jogging’) drives. This activity has gained immense traction and support, and this volunteer group now consists of a solid base of more than 100 consistent and dedicated volunteers. Their work has resulted in 300+ successful drives till date. It was during the course of their plogging, that they came across a lot of sanitary pads/diapers/condoms thrown around, and realised that sanitary waste disposal continues to remain a major issue. Menstruation as a process also remains a taboo. To address this need, the group is now evolving to include menstrual health management (MHM) activities in the form of their “Period Ease” initiative.
Global Shapers Community (GSC), Pune: An initiative of the World Economic Forum, the Pune chapter of GSC is a network of volunteers under the age of 30 striving to address various challenges that the city is facing through self-designed projects. Its most recent projects include awareness about waste mismanagement and implementation of a proper waste management process for educational institutes, guiding students from marginalised communities regarding career options, menstrual health awareness events, providing information about the Right to Information (RTI), etc. This is made possible by a team of active changemakers continually seeking to drive action-based initiatives.
Badlaav Social Reform Foundation: Through Project SAKSHAM (Safe Knowledge on Sexual Health and Menstruation), Badlaav SRF has been working since 2019 to disseminate information regarding menstrual health and MHM by conducting interactive educational seminars and training sessions, whilst also facilitating access to sustainable menstrual products for school girls. Moreover, the organisation is working to create measurable on-ground impact and bring about profound behavioural changes in the society. Equipped with the knowledge and expertise gained through its community projects regarding the on-ground issues and potential solutions on how to tackle these, Badlaav now aims to expand its reach even further and engage with a wider variety of audiences.
It is in this scope that the aforementioned two volunteer groups will pitch in.
What will this collaboration mean?
The aim of this collaboration is to pool the distinctive resources and strengths of all the three groups to maximise impact. Pune Ploggers and GSC Pune will be providing support to Badlaav in carrying forward the work being done with school students in a more systematic and organised manner by providing their vast database of volunteers for on-ground activities, while Badlaav will lend its expertise in menstrual health education and best menstrual practices.
With the Period Ease x Project SAKSHAM programme, the collaboration aims to facilitate menstrual literacy by eradicating misinformation about periods, conducting educational sessions to foster understanding of the menstrual cycle and promoting sustainable menstrual products available in the market. The focus will be on conducting awareness sessions for girls in government and private schools. Thanks to the strong volunteer base now available, each classroom will have one mentor, who will assist the students in their journey towards menstrual health awareness and help out with questions and other misconceptions pertaining not just to menstruation but also helping them deal with the puberty phase and explaining the changes that take place when they are growing up. With the help of Ecofemme, the plan is also to distribute sustainable menstrual products post sessions in low income schools where resources are a challenge. Furthermore, GSC Pune will also be assisting Badlaav by coming up with organised curricula for these sessions. Badlaav has completed training the volunteers who have signed up for this initiative.
This joint effort has already commenced in July of this year, and its first online activity involved reaching out to 4000+ girls from 139 Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) schools with the help of the Primary Education department and conducting online sessions. The following sessions will take place through in-person engagement where the volunteers will mentor young girls, and provide them with access to sustainable period products. One such offline session was successfully kicked off in the first week of October for girl students from grades 5-8 at Agarkar school, Pune. Most girls from grade 5 have not got their periods yet and were clueless about the process of menstruation, while those who have already started menstruating were not aware of what it means. Girls from grades 5 and 6 who had not experienced periods yet were initially scared/hesitant to touch a sanitary pad, and were taught how to put one in a panty, thus preparing them to experience their first period with more awareness and less fear. Post the sessions with the students, a brief discussion was conducted with the teachers regarding different period products. They were as apprehensive about tampons and menstrual cups as the young girls. It is interesting that when it comes to these products, the questions that the women have are not very different from the questions of young girls.
Fuelled by the success of the initial sessions and driven by the belief that together it is possible to achieve more, the consortium looks forward to reaching out to as many menstruators as possible to equip them with correct menstrual practices so that they can bleed in comfort and dignity.
Article by Tanvi Hegade