End Period Poverty Project

28 May 2021
Abuja, Nigeria

Adolescent Health Hub is marking this year's Menstrual Hygiene Day celebration by the End Period Poverty Project at Government Secondary School Shere, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria.

Aim

To address period poverty among adolescents in Shere Community, Bwari Area Council, Abuja, thereby enhancing the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 'achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls'.

Specific objectives

This project is poised to achieve the following:

  1. To empower adolescents with necessary information regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene.
  2. To equip adolescent girls with sanitary (reusable) pads for proper menstrual hygiene maintenance.
  3. To address shaming and dispel myths associated with menstruation.

Project scope

The project objectives will be achieved by:

  1. Carrying out pre-assessments and post-assessments among an estimated 100 adolescents, before and after teaching adolescents about their reproductive health, especially menstruation and menstrual hygiene.
  2. Empowering over 50 adolescent girls with reusable pads.
  3. Involving adolescent boys and teachers during the training session to get acquainted with what the girls go through during menstruation.  The inclusion of boys and teachers in the project design ensures a 'sustainable support system' is developed and sustained with the correct information and expertise necessary to cater to adolescent girls' continuous needs and overall well-being.

Project Location

Government Secondary School, Shere, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

Justification for the project

The Government Secondary School is in Shere. Shere is a village with about 3,000 people located in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, and the community is about 13km from Bwari town (PowerShere). The village lacks accessible road networks, adequate power supply, accessible and state-of-art health facilities, and quality healthcare services (PowerShere).

Due to the limited or almost non-existent healthcare services, empowering the adolescents and the relevant stakeholders with knowledge and skills pertinent to managing menstruation hygienically and adequately is crucial to ensure improved health outcomes among adolescent girls, invariably women in the community now and in the future. In addition, due to low economic capabilities in the target population, providing them with reusable sanitary pads that they can wash and re-use for several months is more sustainable than the disposable sanitary pads.

Main Project Beneficiaries

  • Adolescents- boys and girls
  • Teachers

Partners

To reinforce the attainment of the objectives, Adolescent Health Hub will be partnering with the following organizations: 

  1. Building Stars Foundation
  2. One Voice Initiative for Women and Children Emancipation (OVIWCE)
  3. Global Shapers (Lagos Hub)

Evaluation plan

The pre-assessment and post-assessment surveys will be the major tools to be deployed to appraise the degree of attainment of the specific objectives of the project. 

Projected Outcomes

  • Increased awareness about menstruation among adolescents and teachers (short term)
  • Increased safe, hygienic practices among adolescent girls (short term)
  • Increased access to menstrual hygiene materials among girls (short and long term)
  • Improved health outcomes and enhanced educational attainment (long term)