School WASH and Menstrual Hygiene Management

School WASH and Menstrual Hygiene Management
School WASH and Menstrual Hygiene Management
School WASH and Menstrual Hygiene Management

Poor menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is a significant contributor to gender inequities and poor girls’ education. In Ethiopia, lack of appropriate MHM is a major challenge contributing to adolescent girls’ school absenteeism and dropout that leads to child marriage and child labor. Moreover, women are missing from work and social activities, as a result. The effects of poor MHM disproportionately affect those living with low socio-economic status and those in developing regions of the country. Through our interventions, we work to address the MHM challenges of in-school and out-of-school adolescent girls, menstruating women in general, and thereby improve girls’ education and women’s empowerment. We work to create awareness around MHM and supportive environment to ensure access to MHM services and commodities. Our strategy is achieved through MHM entrepreneurship and skills training, and creating access to safe spaces and MHM friendly facilities in schools, health facilities and communities as well as safe waste disposal facilities. Focusing on school children, we work on gender sensitive safe WASH facilities, and towards encouraging positive WASH behaviors as the children grow.