The Pink Project is dedicated to provide sanitary pads to girls and women living in slum areas in Africa and to disadvantaged girls in schools. International Volunteers aims to End Period Poverty by hosting yearly charitable events with our alumni and to train our seamstresses in sewing reusable pads “RePads.”
Challenges of Period Poverty
ü Studies from UNICEF found 65 per cent of females in the Kibera slum – an area of the capital of Nairobi which is one of the largest urban slums in Africa – had traded sex for sanitary pads.
ü Girls and women rely on old cloths, pieces of blankets, chicken feathers, mud, pieces of foam mattress, toilet paper, and newspapers to manage their menstruation – all of which are unhygienic, ineffective and uncomfortable.
ü 76 % of girls and women faced challenges in gaining access to adequate water and sanitation facilities for menstruation.
ü Lack of access to menstrual hygiene products impacts MILLIONS of girls and women across Africa.
ü The effect of period poverty is devastating, girls end up missing on their education, thereby increasing the likelihood of dropping out, earlier marriage and pregnancy, as well as limiting career options.
