We believe menstruation should not be a barrier to any young girl or woman, anywhere!

Maintaining health and hygiene during menstruation is important for the health, well-being, dignity and mobility for women and girls.

#EmpowerHer is a project by Atura Foundation in partnership with Days for Girls (DfG) Uganda, with a mission to provide menstrual dignity to girls in rural Uganda, especially for girls in education.

Through our own research as well as DfG’s previous projects in Uganda, we became increasingly aware of issues around menstruation for school girls. We realised that there was a need for education on menstrual health management, as well as access to affordable & sustainable pads in rural Uganda.

Most school girls in rural Uganda have little or no access to age-appropriate information on menstrual health, or pads that are accessible, effective, comfortable, convenient, affordable and safe to use. Girls either resort to staying indoors due to no access to materials to manage their menstruation, or use unhygienic alternatives such as old rags, toilet paper or banana leaves.

This hinders their daily activities, can have potential negative implications on their reproductive health, leads to stigma, shame and embarrassment as clothing are stained and are teased especially by boy peers and which isolates them.It also affects work performance which limit their ability to engage in education, which in turn increases the risk of school absence and dropout rates, as they are missing crucial hours of school every month.

Young girls deserve safe, accessible, affordable and dignified solutions to managing their menstruation. We believe young girls should have no restriction to fulfilling their potential in life due to the lack of sanitary protection.

For phase one, we aim to support 150 school girls in rural Uganda.

Your contribution towards our menstrual health management project will do the following:

* Help us distribute locally manufactured, reusable and washable pads and supreme hygiene kits to school girls in rural Uganda. These pads can last up to three years, providing it is taken care of correctly.

 The Supreme hygiene kits contain:

- 8 liners

- 2 waterproof shields (to place liners in),

- 2 pairs of underwear

- 1 bar of soap

- 1 washcloth

- 1 menstrual chart & pictorial instruction

- 2 gallon-size freezer bags

- 1 Drawstring Bag

* To put on educational workshops (Day 1) to teach young girls about menstruation, reproductive and sexual health.

* Provide training (Day 2) & materials for the young girls on how to sustainably produce their own pads, make their own drawstring bag and their own soap to maintain hygiene.

*To empower girls to understand that menstruation is an experience that is not to be ashamed about and to increase their confidence in this area.

Any donation whether big or small will be immensely helpful for this project. Its about time we put an end to period poverty. Help our mission to bridge the gap of inequality and help our girls stay in education.

A huge thanks from the team at Atura Foundation!