EMPOWERING GIRLS. PERIOD How MHM under DHaAL was...
Transcript of EMPOWERING GIRLS. PERIOD How MHM under DHaAL was...
EMPOWERING GIRLS. PERIOD
How MHM under DHaAL was Successfully Implemented in KGBV Bhokardan
Introduction
Menstruation is a sensitive subject
across most cu l tures and A certain word beginning with the
societies, one that is considered letter M in the English language
extremely taboo here in India. possesses the mysterious ability to
Sadly, the little that is uttered on the silence half our population – from
subject centres on superstitious pre-teen girls to grown women.
beliefs that do only harm and no Such is the silence surrounding the
good. Superstitions like “stay in theword that many girls are unaware
outer courtyard of the house else of what it means before it happens
something inauspicious will to them and unable to make sense
happen to your family”, “don’t enter of it once it does. They don’t know
temples or sit for pujas else you will why it happens, what to do, whom
earn the wrath of the Gods” andto talk to, how to manage it. That
word is menstruation.
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“don’t go to school till the bleeding (MHM) exercise in Jalna and
s tops ” p reven t g i r l s f rom Aurangabad districts. It is part of a
hygienically managing this most larger project cal led Dai ly
natural life process and create a Handwashing for an Ailment-free
misplaced sense of shame that Life (DHaAL).
demoralises girls.
In India, 70% of mothers consider
menstruation dirty, perpetuating a MHM refers to the ability of girls
sense of ignorance. 88% of and women to understand the
menstruating women use old cloth, basic facts l inked to their
rags, hay, plastic, newspaper and menstrual cycle and how to
wood shavings instead of sanitary manage it with dignity and without
napkins. A school-going girl on an discomfort or fear. It includes the
average is absent for 20% of the access and ability to use a clean
school year due to her period. material to absorb or collect
(Source: Spot on! Improving menstrual blood that can be
Menstrual Health and Hygiene in changed in privacy as often as
India, by USAID, Kiawah Trust and necessary for the duration of a
Dasra)menstrual period, using soap and
water for washing the body as T h e s i l e n c e s u r r o u n d i n g
required, and having access to menstruation or maasik paali, as it
safe and convenient facilities to is called in Marathi, thus reinforces
dispose of used menstrual gender inequality and inequities
management materials. and adversely affects the dignity of
girls and women, and impacts their But that’s not all. MHM is also
health and education outcomes in about addressing social and
the long-run.cultural behaviour that is based on
the myths and taboos that have Therefore, there is a need to break
been circulating on menstruation, the silence surrounding the
educating society and families, as subject, to spread awareness and
well as girls, on practices which to encourage information-sharing
limit girls’ participation and prevent and discussions in the home, in
them reaching their potential. school and in society.
Thus MHM is fundamental to the In a bid to address this need at the
dignity of women and girls and an school level, the Government of
integral part of basic sanitation and Maharashtra in partnership with
hygiene services which every girl UNICEF’s Water Sanitation and
and woman is entitled to. Hygiene (WASH) programme and
S A C R E D , a l o c a l n o n -
governmental organisation is
implementing a paradigm-shifting
Menstrual Hygiene Management
What is MHM?
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MHM under DHaAL Menstrual hygiene management
was a mere component of the
DHaAL curriculum. The DHaAL project has covered a
100 Zilla Parishad schools in Jalna Among other objectives, the and Aurangabad districts. Of these DHaAL project ensured the 50 schools are in Bhokardan block availability of sanitary napkins in of Jalna district. The project has the selected schools and entailed reached 7,500 students, including district-level advocacy with line 3,893 girls. In addition to these 50 d e p a r t m e n t s t o p r o m o t e schools, the project in Jalna also awareness about menstrual covered two Ashramshalas – hygiene management through government- run res ident ia l Accredited Social Health Activists schools for tribal children – and (ASHAs), Anganwadi Workers one Kasturba Gandhi Balika (AWWs) and Auxiliary Nurses and V i d y a l a y a ( K G B V ) – a Midwives (ANMs). government-run residential school
f o r v u l n e r a b l e g i r l s f r o m The DHaAL project was a success disadvantaged communities. and the MHM component, in
particular, made a huge impact in The DHaAL project, as the name all 50 schools.suggests, focused on promoting
the practice of washing hands
through proper handwashing
stations, soap and clean water in
100 scalable primary schools.
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FACTSHEET: MHM IMPLEMENTATION THROUGH DHaAL IN JALNA IN 2014
No. of project schools
covered
50
No. of Ashramshalas covered 2
No. of KGBVs covered 1
No. of students in covered 7549 ( Boys - 3656, Girls - 3893 )
No. of girls in KGBV covered 130
No. of Head Masters trained 50
Orientation of SMC members
& teachers on DHaAL
514
No. of SMC members trained 1021 ( Male – 580, Female – 441 )
No. of nodal teachers trained 50
No. of KGBV teachers trained 1
No. of lady teachers trained
on Menstrual Hygiene
Management (MHM )
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Objectives esteem and their ability to demand
qua l i ty menst rua l hyg iene
products.The MHM programme was
implemented keep ing four 4 . G i r ls ’ Enro lment and objectives in mind:Attendance: The programme
aims to make girls MH-aware and 1 . A w a r e n e s s : C r e a t i n g schools MH-friendly. When girls awareness about menstruation perceive and manage their periods and menstrual hygiene among with confidence and schools pubescent and pre-pubescent girls provide clean, safe toilets and by breaking the silence, debunking i n f r a s t r u c t u r e , g i r l s f e e l myths, replacing these with encouraged to enrol in and stay scientific and factual information school, thereby completing their and most importantly, assuring education without any disruptions them that there is no cause for fear, or gaps. embarrassment or humiliation.
The programme is also geared At the KGBV in Bhokardan, the towards promoting hygienic project aimed to:behaviour.
1. Train teachers to educate girls 2. Access: Providing girls with about MHMaccess to hygienic menstruation
material, safe toilets, clean water 2. Ensure the availability of and adequate soap, as well as sanitary napkinsappropriate facilities to privately
dispose off used sanitary napkins. 3. Create an incinerator to facilitate The MHM programme also aims to the hygiene disposal of used develop the capacities of those sanitary napkins.who significant in a girl’s life to
address her needs.
3 . E m p o w e r m e n t : T h e
programme seeks to empower
girls with knowledge and skills to
manage their menstruation,
thereby boosting their morale, self-
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The Intervention teach Standard 6 to 10. 3. Invest ing in/ Instal l ing
During these training sessions, the Hardware
participants A s p a r t o f t h e p r o j e c t , I m p l e m e n t i n g t h e M H M ?understood the importance of handwashing stations were component in 50 Zilla Parishad menstrual hygiene management created in all 50 ZP schools and schools, two Ashramshalas and and the havoc that ignorance was three residential schools to the KGBV in Bhokardan took place wrecking on girls. promote the practice of washing through the following: training of ?understood their role in hands daily and especially during teachers, usage and distribution of imparting knowledge and skills menstruation. IEC material and installing an ?developed insights into creating incinerator.an enabling environment for the In a first, an incinerator – a
girls to discuss and ask questions specially-designed furnace-like 1. Teachers and promoters about MHM device used to burn sanitary training:?learedt how to implement at the napkins as a hygienic disposal The trainings took place at three school-level option – was installed in the KGBV levels- District level (training of
in Bhokardan, making it the only Master Trainers (Mts)), Block-level 2. Contact drive Zilla Parishad school in all of Jalna (training of Zilla Parishad school, A contact drive during which the and Maharashtra to have such a Ashramshala and KGBV teachers) concept was elucidated and IEC state-of-the-art sanitary disposal and at the school level (training of material designed by UNICEF was system system.girl students in ZP schools, used during the sessions with the Ashramshalas and KGBV).girls.The district- and block-level
trainings spanned one day. Each
session had a maximum of 40
participants – lady teachers who
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Burning Soiled Sanitary Pads, Destroying Unsafe Practices: KGBV, Bhokardan gets an Incinerator
government in partnership with
UNICEF. And Pallavi was going to
be the lucky one – the first person
to dispose off a used sanitary
napkin in it. But alas, the 14-year-
old was a bundle of nerves. “I felt
so overwhelmed with everyone
egging me on to push my napkin
into the machine that I caved in. My
best friend Priyanka who had
begun her period last year,
volunteered to do it for me.”
It was almost the end of February And so it was Priyanka who
2015 and the KGBV in Bhokardan, stepped up to the plate. Teacher
the usually vibrant, cheerful Anjali Bharne stood by to step in if
second home to a hundred needed. Priyanka switched on the
underprivileged girls was buzzing main power switch. She pulled
with even more excitement. Girls down a lever that opened up a slat,
were peeping out of their she pushed a wad of old
classrooms, some were rushing up newspaper that contained the
to one corner of the first floor, soiled pad into the slat and
where the toilets are located. pressed the red button. Voila! The
Teachers tried to restore order but incinerator had done its job: the
in vain. Pallavi Kharat, a student in sanitary pad was burnt to ashes.
Standard 9 had begun her period
the day before. But that’s not why
everyone was excited. It was
because Pallavi would be the first
girl in the school to use the
“machine” that was installed by the
Zilla Parishad of Jalna in the girls’
toilet a few days earlier. Her
schoo lmates were exc i ted
because they wanted to see it
being used for real.
The machine being referred to is,
in fact, an incinerator - specially
designed and installed to dispose
off sanitary napkins. It is part of the
menstrual hygiene management
programme launched by the
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As the word spread, many girls
crowded around Pallavi and
Priyanka to ask them about their
experience first-hand. The girls
enjoyed what felt l ike the
proverbial 15-minutes of fame and
recounted the story many times
over.
The ease with which the girls are
discussing menstruation and the
disposal of sanitary napkin –topics
that are considered taboo and
never discussed openly because stories to broach the subject of
of the stigma in most parts of tribal menstruation. At first, the girls
and rural Maharashtra – is were shy and hesitant. Gradually
noteworthy. It is also a victory for they began opening up, one by
the recently-implemented MHM one. Slowly they began to see that
programme under the DHaAL there was absolutely nothing to be
project. ashamed of. They broke their
s i lence on the sub jec t . I
encouraged them to share the
superstitious beliefs that their
mothers and grandmothers had
frightened them with.”
One of the girls who attended the
MHM sessions conducted by Ms.
Bharne was Pooja Gaikwad who
studies in Standard 10. Pooja
Says Ms. Bharne, the nodal states, “My periods began when I
teacher who was trained by was in Standard 7. I had no clue
UNICEF to spread awareness what was happening to me and
about handwashing and menstrual burst into tears. When my mother
hygiene, “As soon as I returned to saw me in such distress, she
KGBV from the training in October guessed what had happened and
2014, I formed two groups consoled me. It was a shock to
comprising girls from Standard 8 to begin menstruating without
10 – 50 girls who attained knowing anything about it. I am
menarche and those who were glad that my juniors here in school
approaching it. While Manisha, the are being spared the shock and
promoter impressed on them the distress. It is not worth getting
importance of washing their hands frightened about something that is
and taught them the right way to do so biologically natural.”
it, I used ice-breakers, games and
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The MHM programme has not only record of it in a register. That
broken the silence around the student is Bhagyashree Dandge. “I
taboo subject of menstruation. It feel proud to have been given this
has gone a step further. “Our girls responsibility. I enjoy maintaining
are very talented. They love to the register and always try to help
script and enact plays. After a my school mates. Some of the
couple of MHM sessions, they younger girls are very rattled and
surprised me by writing and nervous when they come to me to
enacting a play on the subject of collect the sanitary napkin. I pacify
menstruation and MHM before the them by repeating all that Bharne
entire school. This in itself was madam has taught us. I even show
validation for me – it proved to me them how to use the sanitary
that the girls had correctly napkin, in case they are still unsure
understood the concept and how about it,” says Bhagyashree.
to handle menstruation,” adds Ms.
Bharne. Bhagyashree is incidentally also
trained in Karate. “I used to use old
KGBV Bhokardan also provides cloth earlier but then switched to
sanitary napkins to the girls sanitary napkins after learning
studying and l iving at the about the benefits. I find it so
residential school facility. Says Ms. comfortable and reliable that when
Bharne, “In addition to education, my periods began on the day of a
clothes, books, food and medicine, Karate competition, I simply wore
we also provide sanitary napkins to one and competed in the event.
the girls free of cost. In fact, I have The best part is that I won the 2nd
appointed one girl from Standard prize. When I told my mother about
10 for the task of disbursing it, she was shocked,” laughs
sanitary napkins to individual girls Bhagyashree.
who need them and maintaining a
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The best part of the MHM
programme, according to Pallavi,
Priyanka, Bhagyashree and their
schoolmates is the incinerator.
“Earlier we had to dispose our
sanitary napkins by dumping them
outside the boundary wall of our
KGBV and setting fire to the heap
at sunset. It was cumbersome. The
incinerator is so much more
convenient, safe and hygienic,”
say the girls.
The intervention has been been the Zilla Parishad’s decision
successful in that it has been able to scale-up the MHM programme
to meet the objectives stated at the to all schools in Jalna district.
outset. Girls in the 50 Zilla
P a r i s h a d s c h o o l s , t h e
Ashramshalas and the KGBV
covered by the project have begun
to openly talk about menstruation
and related issues – something
that has never happened before.
This is also the first time that reach
has been so complete – covering
both gir ls who are in the
menstruating age and those who
are yet to attain menarche. An
entire generation is slowly feeling
empowered because they are
menstrual hygiene-aware.
In addition to this, the awareness
campaign had led to many schools
deve lop ing the necessary
infrastructure – clean, safe,
separate toilets for girls, with
running water, soap and dustbins –
for girls to access.
But the biggest impact of the MHM
intervention under DHaAL has
Results
For more information, please contact:
Yusuf Kabir, WASH Officer
United Nations Children’s FundField Office of Maharashtra
R2 B-Wing, Technopolis Building, Mahakali Caves Road, Near
MIDC, Opp. Holy Family School, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400 060
Tel: (022) 26875174 [email protected]
www.unicef.org
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