Nkantolo Sanitary Towel Initiative

As is often the case, poverty levels in the area have a direct negative impact on young women of school-going age. The inaccessibility and unaffordability of sanitary towels is a national crisis that it is estimated to result in girl learners missing up to fifty days of school per year during their menstrual cycles. After doing in-depth research and conducting a needs analysis in the area, the Foundation partnered with the Imbumba Foundation’s Caring4Girls Initiative, Aspen Pharmacare and Brand SA to assist in the procurement and dissemination of the sanitary towels. To date, the Nkantolo Education Project has successfully executed eight biannual visits providing over 500 000 sanitary towels. Owing to the success of the project, the Foundation identified the need to expand the initiative to positively impact all the learners in the four schools we have adopted in Nkantolo. As such, the Foundation increased the scope of the project to include dignity packs for boys and young girls of non-menstruating age. The packs consisted of a toothbrush, toothpaste, facecloth, soap, deodorant, roll-on and body lotion. To destigmatise menstruation, we also included a panel discussion at each school where all learners could share stories and ask questions. This afforded all the learners in our target schools an opportunity to be included in the intervention and learn about the importance of hygiene and menstrual health. It also helped boys understand what their peers experience every month and encouraged empathy and open dialogue.

The Foundation is constantly seeking ways in which to increase the sustainability of the project. For example, we would like to provide the girls with reusable sanitary towels or menstrual cups. This would solve the problem of inaccessibility to menstrual products for 3-5 years for each of these young women. However, for this to be a viable solution, the girls would have to have access to running water, which, as previously mentioned, is not the case. The advent of COVID-19 further highlighted the importance of investing in basic water and sanitation infrastructure. According to the Stockholm International Water Institute “Washing hands with soap and water is the single most efficient measure against COVID-19” The Foundation, therefore, would like to expand the Nkantolo Sanitary Towel Project to include a water initiative.