SHE will be at the Women Deliver Conference, May 28th - May 30th

SHE will participate in several events during the conference: 

Tuesday, May 28th, 12:00 pm - 12:25 pm, Exhibit Hall 2, Hospitality Suite 2: 

View our SHE28 Campaign Video at Cinema Corner

Wednesday, May 29th, 11:15 am – 11:30 am, Speaker's Corner, Exhibit Hall

Learn more about our advocacy and education initiatives during our industrial-scale pilot from Jackie Mupenzi, SHE's Advocacy and Policy Manager

Thursday, May 30th, 11:00 am - 11:45 am, Exhibit Hall 5
Witness social enterprise in action as SHE's Jackie Mupenzi serves as a judge at the Social Enterprise Challenge

If you can't join SHE at the conference, you can attend Women Deliver 2013 virtually through its website at http://new.livestream.com/WomenDeliver/conference2013 or follow the action via its blog or Twitter using hashtag #wd2013.

The HAHA Beat: Why Menstrual Hygiene Education Needs to be Girl-Friendly

Check out why Health and Hygiene Officer Nadia thinks that menstrual education is not "girl-friendly" enough and how SHE is instigating for these changes at the school level:

"With the support of VSO Rwanda, SHE conducted menstrual health and hygiene awareness programs across the Ngoma District within the month of March.

In our Rwandan culture, as in other parts of the world, menstruation is still viewed as a taboo, making it difficult for parents, teachers and children comfortable to tackle the matter in details. Some parents would say nothing at all about menstruation or at the very least, would ask someone else to explain menstruation to their daughters, which has resulted in misinformation about menstruation.

Health and Hygiene Officer Nadia at one of our 8 awareness sessions in the Ngoma District. 

With all this confusion about how to properly manage their period, girls miss up to 3-5 school days each month, while their male colleagues proceed with their studies, thus making our young sisters, future mothers and leaders of Rwanda at risk of falling behind at school, having low marks, and not having the same achievements as their brothers.

Students therefore have to rely on teachers for menstrual hygiene education, but all they learn is about the biological changes that occur with the onset of menstruation. Unfortunately, menstrual hygiene management part is not covered within it. Girls, as well as boys, need to have that information, so they are prepared once menses does begin and to take it easy; and most importantly, to know that menstruation is NOT a disease or is something shameful! This was our overview when we lead these awareness workshops.

The fact is increased access to menstrual hygiene education is needed and it needs to be presented in a child and girl-friendly manner. If it’s not done in a girl-friendly approach, girls will continue to receive incorrect menstrual information. Some of the myths or incorrect information that I heard from the girls include:

"If you sleep with a man while menstruating, you will never have painful periods”

or

"If you have sex while menstruating, you will never get pregnant"

These girls’ voices are calling out for SHE support. They have the right to know that menstruation is not a disease or a curse as some people believe - it is a normal physiological process the body undergoes.That is why SHE is instigating for increased access to menstrual education and materials at the national level!

SHE is taking the lead to educate girls about MHM through their teachers and parents. Will you join us? Girls are demanding to 'know more!'

I extend gratitude to the Ngoma District and their schools; as a result we were able to provide our MHM awareness workshop to over 1100 students.

I am also most grateful to the girls and their teachers for talking frankly about menstruation in the school setting with us. Girls, we love you, and we believe you deserve to manage your menses healthy and hygienically."

Cheers,

Nadia Hitimana 

Health and Hygiene Officer"

The HAHA beat: Periodic (haha) Updates from our Health and Hygiene Advocacy team

While our industrial-pilot is in motion, our HAHA team (Health and Hygiene Advocacy) team is also laying the groundwork to ensure long-term access to menstrual hygiene education and products (including our SHE LaunchPad) .

To make sure you're up-to-date on all things health and hygiene-related, check out our blog for The HAHA Beat. Here's the latest from our Advocacy and Policy Manager Jackie.

----------------------
Hi all,

It's been an exciting 2 months for the HAHA team! With Nadia on board, we worked together to lead hygiene education and awareness programs across Rwanda in partnership with VSO. 

Jackie (with mic) leading an advocacy awareness session.
Photo Credit: Perttu Saralampi

Our final awareness program at a youth center in Kigali was one of our most memorable events, namely because we invited 15 students from the Duha Complex School in Rwamagana to perform a skit on menstrual hygiene education! 

The Duha students are one of SHE's biggest fans! We trained senior level students and their teachers about menstrual hygiene and they loved our program so much that they even founded their own SHE student club! 

The Duha students provide menstrual and reproductive health education by writing and performing their own skits that are then performed at school and within the community. It was a great to have youths teach each other via acting!

Bridget Mukanyandwi, a teacher at the Duha School, remarked that the budget allocated for pads was insufficient as not all girls can have access to them. She said some students end up using rags because they can't afford pads and the schools don't receive enough pads for use by their students. 

Mukanyandwi said that most children start their periods around their primary five or at age twelve. She also called upon parents to also play a role in telling their daughters about menstruation early enough and not leave to it all to teachers. 

She also noted that some parents, especially in villages, still hold negative cultural perceptions whereby they believe it's a taboo to talk to their daughters about menstrual health, therefore calling upon them to break the silence and educate their children. 

As a much added benefit to raising national awareness, the New Times Rwanda featured our event and an interview with me. Please check it out: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?a=13582&i=15320

More eyes and ears at the national policy level are on menstrual hygiene education. This is great news!

Thank You, 

Jackie

Sky's Summer in Rwanda

After living in four different countries, attending six schools and being exposed to dozens of cultures, I honestly thought I had heard it all. That is why I still find it so very hard to believe that I could stumble upon an issue so pressing as women’s lack of access to menstrual products. Even more to my astonishment, a single article has lead to (amongst many other things) an unforgettable, life-changing time in Rwanda working with SHE. 

            I lived for a month this summer in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. Although I had organized, scheduled and prepared for months, embarking on my trip did feel like stepping into the unknown. I was so keen but as the days grew nearer my nerves did kick in. Many would presume that I was scared from the thought of being alone in a new country, but instead I was preoccupied with whether anyone would take a 16-year-old blond, peppy girl seriously. Much to my content, I have never been treated with more respect or maturity, then when I worked along side the amazing people I met in Rwanda. 

On the road from capital city Kigali to the rural area in Kayonza

I spent most days in Kigali, but I had the opportunity to travel the countryside on multiple occasions. Officially, I completed a checklist of items for SHE, including shooting and editing films. I still managed to spend most of my time hidden behind my camera lens, trying to capture as many things as possible (more to come!). When I did venture away from it, I met incredible people who told me heart-breaking, courageous or inspiring stories. Travelling with the SHE team, we ran focus groups where I had the luck of listening to girls tell me about their experiences with their periods. Most of the time, they were my age, which truly allowed me to bond with them. Although we live thousands of miles apart, I found we had as much in common as we did different. 

Just some of the natural beauty that can be found all over in Rwanda

 I recorded my experiences through videos, photos, and journal entries. Right now I am collecting and organizing everything to share with you…so stay tuned! 

Welcome to Monica Gagnon, SHE's Global Public Health Intern

Advocacy is key to our work since one of our goals is to restore dignity to women and girls through policy changes and community dialogue. We launched our advocacy campaign at a national level in Rwanda with our 2010 "Breaking the Silence" campaign that included a march down the streets of Kigali to gain national attention to the taboos about menstruation.


We are now beginning to scale our advocacy efforts at a global level and are always looking for fellow instigators to join us in developing innovative ways to address the barriers to access to sanitary pads. Monica Gagnon has become a fellow SHE instigator this summer as our SHE's Global Public Health Intern. Learn more about Monica in her own words:

"Hello! I’m a Master’s in Public Health candidate in health policy and management at the City University of New York’s School of Public Health. In my day job I coordinate a residency program in family medicine in East Harlem, with the goal of increasing access to quality primary care in underserved communities. My main interest in public health is overcoming barriers to access to health, which is what drew me to SHE.

As an undergraduate at Oberlin College, I majored in religion with a focus on gender, and traveled to Mali to study gender and development. SHE combines my interests in gender and social justice by finding innovative ways to address barriers to women’s health access. I am very excited to be joining the team and delving into the global policy issues that affect SHE’s work.

When not thinking about public health, I enjoy playing field hockey, doing the Sunday NY Times crossword, watching French movies and dreaming about my future goat farm!"