Ideated by Ishika Agarwal, Poorvi Gorripati, Mahima Singhee, Maansi Solanky, and Parisa Deokule
Upon having various women in the village fill out need assessment forms on our initial trip two semesters ago, we saw a clear need for improving menstrual health. We have partnered with two India based organization, Eco Femme and Boondh, in order to provide menstrual health education and sustainably alternatives to costly disposable pads.
This summer, we were hoping to work with a small initial group of 20 women to test alternatives to store-bought pads. We intended to assemble menstrual hygiene kits including plastic bags, soap, cloth pads from Eco Femme, menstrual cups from Boondh, and other hygiene items. To accompany these kits, we worked in partnership with Eco Femme and Boondh to devise menstrual health lessons, modeled on the initiatives they have undertaken elsewhere in India. This lesson contains all sorts of information about menstruation, from basic biology to personally recommended pain relief tactics. We also produced evaluation forms to distribute among the women receiving the kits so they can regularly keep us updated on what products they like.
With the recent postponing of the India trip due to COVID-19, we have had to rethink this plan. Due to how sensitive discussing menstruation can be for some women, it seemed ineffective and insensitive to conduct the lesson remotely. We now aim to produce menstrual health infographics to distribute to the women of the village via WhatsApp.
SC Project RISHI wishes to thank all of its donors for providing the funds to make this initiative possible.
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