Dear WoMena supporter & follower
This year's very first WoMena newsletter is here.
Enjoy reading about our project updates and exciting activities to come.
*Already a member of WoMena? Remember to renew your membership for 2018.
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Stijn's Road to Cape Town - Cycling for Cycles
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After 7 months on the road starting in Belgium, Stijn van Parys arrived at the WoMena office in Kampala 31 of January. In July, Stijn started his biking adventure, the goal being to bike from Belgium to South Africa in dedication to WoMena's work of empowering women and girls through menstrual education. He also has donated sponsorship funds to WoMena. Stijn was greeted with a warm welcome by the WoMena staff.
During Stijn's stay with WoMena, he helped raise awareness about male involvement and the importance of menstrual education. Among others, Stijn went with the WoMena team to M-Lisada, an orphanage in Kampala, to teach 90 girls and boys how to ride a bike followed up by an awareness session on menstrual health. Bicycles had been generously donated by Ultimate Cycling Uganda.
You can read more about Stijn's biking journey here: https://www.roadtocapetown.be.
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Risks, Secret Routines and Missing Connectors - Understanding long-term use of the menstrual cup
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One of the reasons WoMena has introduced menstrual cups is that it lasts a long time - a Ruby Cup for example can be used for up to 10 years. But what do we really know about long term use of menstrual cups, especially in low-income contexts?
In 2015, as part of the Menstrual Cup Interventions Follow up Study (MCFUS) we went back to three of our previous intervention sites (in Kitgum, Gulu and Katakwi, Uganda) to see if we could capture girls and women’s experiences. The study was funded through WoMena’s membership fees and donations.
Here are some preliminary results:
- Out of 117 women and girls surveyed, 82.1% still used the menstrual cup to manage their menstruation, where 21.2% stated they used only the menstrual cup.
- Girls and women considered use of the cup to be risky, but made active choices by balancing perceived risks and often felt that the benefits of menstrual cup use outweighed the risks. In the long term, menstrual cup users developed routines of use, allowing them to take control of their time since they no longer needed to worry about leakage and could plan where, when and how to empty their menstrual cup.
We look forward to sharing the full report with you soon.
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Education through Drama - MENISCUS-2 Drama Skit intervention in Entebbe, Uganda
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Since April 2016, WoMena has been the lead implementation partner on the MENISCUS-2 feasibility study being conducted by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Medical Research Council Uganda. The study aims to test a holistic school-based intervention to improve menstrual health management in schools and school attendance.
WoMena, in collaboration with a Drama Skit consultant, has built on MENISCUS-1 experience to develop a drama skit facilitation guide for two schools. The initial information sessions last year were attended by 154 students. Both schools have now selected titles for their drama skits, selected characters and started rehearsing. Topics such as stigma and shame, teasing by boys and parental involvement were suggested. The students have interpreted these themes with great comic value, and learned about menstrual health with great enthusiasm. The final performance will be filmed and promises to be a great mode of spreading awareness about menstrual health in the students’ own language.
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Student practicing as section of the drama skit where a girl with menstrual pain seeks help from her parents.
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Training of Trainers, Buikwe Project
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34 women participated in a 3-day workshop for them to become trainers in menstrual health and management, The women are teachers from 4 programme secondary schools, and female councillors, all working in Buikwe district.
WoMena’s awesome trainers Shamirah and Priscilla took the participants through sessions such as puberty and what happens in the male and female body, how to track your menstrual cycle, how to use a menstrual cup and reusable pads, and how to deliver a training on these subjects in an engaging way to adolescent girls and boys.
Over the next couple of months the new trainers will be educating 1500 girls about menstrual health, and the boys in their classes will also participate in many of the sessions. It is an important aspect of WoMena’s approach to also include boys and men, in order for them to understand and be more supportive of girls and menstruation.
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WoMena’s new research project: Feasibility assessment of menstrual cups and reusable pads as menstrual innovation in humanitarian programming
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We are happy to announce a new grant that has been awarded to WoMena to conduct a feasibility assessment of including innovative reusable menstrual health products (both menstrual cups and reusable pads) in humanitarian programming. We plan to implement the 18-month project in Yumbe and Arua districts, in the West Nile area, Northern Uganda, with our NGO partners ZOA and Welthungerhilfe. We aim to reach 2000 girls and women with menstrual health education and distribution of reusable products in two South Sudanese refugee settlements in these districts.
The project is supported by Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund programme, a grant making facility supporting organisations and individuals to identify, nurture and share innovative and scalable solutions to the most pressing challenges facing effective humanitarian assistance. The HIF is funded by aid from the UK Government (DFID) and the Directorate General of the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO).
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WoMena Activities in Denmark
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With the support of the Soroptimists in Denmark, as well as the Danish cup producers OrganiCup, WoMena is expanding its activities to address menstrual challenges in Denmark, including education for youth, and distribution of products to refugees and vulnerable women. WoMena is deeply grateful for the support by Soroptimists to help start up activities in Denmark. This is still at the early planning stages, but we are enthusiastic about the opportunity to open up new possibilities. We look forward to expansion of our partnership with Soroptimists, we are grateful both for the funding but equally for the possibility to collaborate. Find below an article that Soroptimists have written on their collaboration with WoMena.
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You can help improve menstrual health by supporting our work via a donation or a membership.
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We want to express our gratitude to our partners, including:
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