empowering girls. period how mhm under dhaal was...

EMPOWERING GIRLS. PERIOD

How MHM under DHaAL was Successfully Implemented in KGBV Bhokardan

Introduction

Menstruation is a sensitive subject

across most cu l tures and A certain word beginning with the

societies, one that is considered letter M in the English language

extremely taboo here in India. possesses the mysterious ability to

Sadly, the little that is uttered on the silence half our population – from

subject centres on superstitious pre-teen girls to grown women.

beliefs that do only harm and no Such is the silence surrounding the

good. Superstitions like “stay in theword that many girls are unaware

outer courtyard of the house else of what it means before it happens

something inauspicious will to them and unable to make sense

happen to your family”, “don’t enter of it once it does. They don’t know

temples or sit for pujas else you will why it happens, what to do, whom

earn the wrath of the Gods” andto talk to, how to manage it. That

word is menstruation.

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Final Draft. Approval of design & final proof-read pending

“don’t go to school till the bleeding (MHM) exercise in Jalna and

s tops ” p reven t g i r l s f rom Aurangabad districts. It is part of a

hygienically managing this most larger project cal led Dai ly

natural life process and create a Handwashing for an Ailment-free

misplaced sense of shame that Life (DHaAL).

demoralises girls.

In India, 70% of mothers consider

menstruation dirty, perpetuating a MHM refers to the ability of girls

sense of ignorance. 88% of and women to understand the

menstruating women use old cloth, basic facts l inked to their

rags, hay, plastic, newspaper and menstrual cycle and how to

wood shavings instead of sanitary manage it with dignity and without

napkins. A school-going girl on an discomfort or fear. It includes the

average is absent for 20% of the access and ability to use a clean

school year due to her period. material to absorb or collect

(Source: Spot on! Improving menstrual blood that can be

Menstrual Health and Hygiene in changed in privacy as often as

India, by USAID, Kiawah Trust and necessary for the duration of a

Dasra)menstrual period, using soap and

water for washing the body as T h e s i l e n c e s u r r o u n d i n g

required, and having access to menstruation or maasik paali, as it

safe and convenient facilities to is called in Marathi, thus reinforces

dispose of used menstrual gender inequality and inequities

management materials. and adversely affects the dignity of

girls and women, and impacts their But that’s not all. MHM is also

health and education outcomes in about addressing social and

the long-run.cultural behaviour that is based on

the myths and taboos that have Therefore, there is a need to break

been circulating on menstruation, the silence surrounding the

educating society and families, as subject, to spread awareness and

well as girls, on practices which to encourage information-sharing

limit girls’ participation and prevent and discussions in the home, in

them reaching their potential. school and in society.

Thus MHM is fundamental to the In a bid to address this need at the

dignity of women and girls and an school level, the Government of

integral part of basic sanitation and Maharashtra in partnership with

hygiene services which every girl UNICEF’s Water Sanitation and

and woman is entitled to. Hygiene (WASH) programme and

S A C R E D , a l o c a l n o n -

governmental organisation is

implementing a paradigm-shifting

Menstrual Hygiene Management

What is MHM?

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MHM under DHaAL Menstrual hygiene management

was a mere component of the

DHaAL curriculum. The DHaAL project has covered a

100 Zilla Parishad schools in Jalna Among other objectives, the and Aurangabad districts. Of these DHaAL project ensured the 50 schools are in Bhokardan block availability of sanitary napkins in of Jalna district. The project has the selected schools and entailed reached 7,500 students, including district-level advocacy with line 3,893 girls. In addition to these 50 d e p a r t m e n t s t o p r o m o t e schools, the project in Jalna also awareness about menstrual covered two Ashramshalas – hygiene management through government- run res ident ia l Accredited Social Health Activists schools for tribal children – and (ASHAs), Anganwadi Workers one Kasturba Gandhi Balika (AWWs) and Auxiliary Nurses and V i d y a l a y a ( K G B V ) – a Midwives (ANMs). government-run residential school

f o r v u l n e r a b l e g i r l s f r o m The DHaAL project was a success disadvantaged communities. and the MHM component, in

particular, made a huge impact in The DHaAL project, as the name all 50 schools.suggests, focused on promoting

the practice of washing hands

through proper handwashing

stations, soap and clean water in

100 scalable primary schools.

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FACTSHEET: MHM IMPLEMENTATION THROUGH DHaAL IN JALNA IN 2014

No. of project schools

covered

50

No. of Ashramshalas covered 2

No. of KGBVs covered 1

No. of students in covered 7549 ( Boys - 3656, Girls - 3893 )

No. of girls in KGBV covered 130

No. of Head Masters trained 50

Orientation of SMC members

& teachers on DHaAL

514

No. of SMC members trained 1021 ( Male – 580, Female – 441 )

No. of nodal teachers trained 50

No. of KGBV teachers trained 1

No. of lady teachers trained

on Menstrual Hygiene

Management (MHM )

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Objectives esteem and their ability to demand

qua l i ty menst rua l hyg iene

products.The MHM programme was

implemented keep ing four 4 . G i r ls ’ Enro lment and objectives in mind:Attendance: The programme

aims to make girls MH-aware and 1 . A w a r e n e s s : C r e a t i n g schools MH-friendly. When girls awareness about menstruation perceive and manage their periods and menstrual hygiene among with confidence and schools pubescent and pre-pubescent girls provide clean, safe toilets and by breaking the silence, debunking i n f r a s t r u c t u r e , g i r l s f e e l myths, replacing these with encouraged to enrol in and stay scientific and factual information school, thereby completing their and most importantly, assuring education without any disruptions them that there is no cause for fear, or gaps. embarrassment or humiliation.

The programme is also geared At the KGBV in Bhokardan, the towards promoting hygienic project aimed to:behaviour.

1. Train teachers to educate girls 2. Access: Providing girls with about MHMaccess to hygienic menstruation

material, safe toilets, clean water 2. Ensure the availability of and adequate soap, as well as sanitary napkinsappropriate facilities to privately

dispose off used sanitary napkins. 3. Create an incinerator to facilitate The MHM programme also aims to the hygiene disposal of used develop the capacities of those sanitary napkins.who significant in a girl’s life to

address her needs.

3 . E m p o w e r m e n t : T h e

programme seeks to empower

girls with knowledge and skills to

manage their menstruation,

thereby boosting their morale, self-

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The Intervention teach Standard 6 to 10. 3. Invest ing in/ Instal l ing

During these training sessions, the Hardware

participants A s p a r t o f t h e p r o j e c t , I m p l e m e n t i n g t h e M H M ?understood the importance of handwashing stations were component in 50 Zilla Parishad menstrual hygiene management created in all 50 ZP schools and schools, two Ashramshalas and and the havoc that ignorance was three residential schools to the KGBV in Bhokardan took place wrecking on girls. promote the practice of washing through the following: training of ?understood their role in hands daily and especially during teachers, usage and distribution of imparting knowledge and skills menstruation. IEC material and installing an ?developed insights into creating incinerator.an enabling environment for the In a first, an incinerator – a

girls to discuss and ask questions specially-designed furnace-like 1. Teachers and promoters about MHM device used to burn sanitary training:?learedt how to implement at the napkins as a hygienic disposal The trainings took place at three school-level option – was installed in the KGBV levels- District level (training of

in Bhokardan, making it the only Master Trainers (Mts)), Block-level 2. Contact drive Zilla Parishad school in all of Jalna (training of Zilla Parishad school, A contact drive during which the and Maharashtra to have such a Ashramshala and KGBV teachers) concept was elucidated and IEC state-of-the-art sanitary disposal and at the school level (training of material designed by UNICEF was system system.girl students in ZP schools, used during the sessions with the Ashramshalas and KGBV).girls.The district- and block-level

trainings spanned one day. Each

session had a maximum of 40

participants – lady teachers who

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Burning Soiled Sanitary Pads, Destroying Unsafe Practices: KGBV, Bhokardan gets an Incinerator

government in partnership with

UNICEF. And Pallavi was going to

be the lucky one – the first person

to dispose off a used sanitary

napkin in it. But alas, the 14-year-

old was a bundle of nerves. “I felt

so overwhelmed with everyone

egging me on to push my napkin

into the machine that I caved in. My

best friend Priyanka who had

begun her period last year,

volunteered to do it for me.”

It was almost the end of February And so it was Priyanka who

2015 and the KGBV in Bhokardan, stepped up to the plate. Teacher

the usually vibrant, cheerful Anjali Bharne stood by to step in if

second home to a hundred needed. Priyanka switched on the

underprivileged girls was buzzing main power switch. She pulled

with even more excitement. Girls down a lever that opened up a slat,

were peeping out of their she pushed a wad of old

classrooms, some were rushing up newspaper that contained the

to one corner of the first floor, soiled pad into the slat and

where the toilets are located. pressed the red button. Voila! The

Teachers tried to restore order but incinerator had done its job: the

in vain. Pallavi Kharat, a student in sanitary pad was burnt to ashes.

Standard 9 had begun her period

the day before. But that’s not why

everyone was excited. It was

because Pallavi would be the first

girl in the school to use the

“machine” that was installed by the

Zilla Parishad of Jalna in the girls’

toilet a few days earlier. Her

schoo lmates were exc i ted

because they wanted to see it

being used for real.

The machine being referred to is,

in fact, an incinerator - specially

designed and installed to dispose

off sanitary napkins. It is part of the

menstrual hygiene management

programme launched by the


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As the word spread, many girls

crowded around Pallavi and

Priyanka to ask them about their

experience first-hand. The girls

enjoyed what felt l ike the

proverbial 15-minutes of fame and

recounted the story many times

over.

The ease with which the girls are

discussing menstruation and the

disposal of sanitary napkin –topics

that are considered taboo and

never discussed openly because stories to broach the subject of

of the stigma in most parts of tribal menstruation. At first, the girls

and rural Maharashtra – is were shy and hesitant. Gradually

noteworthy. It is also a victory for they began opening up, one by

the recently-implemented MHM one. Slowly they began to see that

programme under the DHaAL there was absolutely nothing to be

project. ashamed of. They broke their

s i lence on the sub jec t . I

encouraged them to share the

superstitious beliefs that their

mothers and grandmothers had

frightened them with.”

One of the girls who attended the

MHM sessions conducted by Ms.

Bharne was Pooja Gaikwad who

studies in Standard 10. Pooja

Says Ms. Bharne, the nodal states, “My periods began when I

teacher who was trained by was in Standard 7. I had no clue

UNICEF to spread awareness what was happening to me and

about handwashing and menstrual burst into tears. When my mother

hygiene, “As soon as I returned to saw me in such distress, she

KGBV from the training in October guessed what had happened and

2014, I formed two groups consoled me. It was a shock to

comprising girls from Standard 8 to begin menstruating without

10 – 50 girls who attained knowing anything about it. I am

menarche and those who were glad that my juniors here in school

approaching it. While Manisha, the are being spared the shock and

promoter impressed on them the distress. It is not worth getting

importance of washing their hands frightened about something that is

and taught them the right way to do so biologically natural.”

it, I used ice-breakers, games and


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The MHM programme has not only record of it in a register. That

broken the silence around the student is Bhagyashree Dandge. “I

taboo subject of menstruation. It feel proud to have been given this

has gone a step further. “Our girls responsibility. I enjoy maintaining

are very talented. They love to the register and always try to help

script and enact plays. After a my school mates. Some of the

couple of MHM sessions, they younger girls are very rattled and

surprised me by writing and nervous when they come to me to

enacting a play on the subject of collect the sanitary napkin. I pacify

menstruation and MHM before the them by repeating all that Bharne

entire school. This in itself was madam has taught us. I even show

validation for me – it proved to me them how to use the sanitary

that the girls had correctly napkin, in case they are still unsure

understood the concept and how about it,” says Bhagyashree.

to handle menstruation,” adds Ms.

Bharne. Bhagyashree is incidentally also

trained in Karate. “I used to use old

KGBV Bhokardan also provides cloth earlier but then switched to

sanitary napkins to the girls sanitary napkins after learning

studying and l iving at the about the benefits. I find it so

residential school facility. Says Ms. comfortable and reliable that when

Bharne, “In addition to education, my periods began on the day of a

clothes, books, food and medicine, Karate competition, I simply wore

we also provide sanitary napkins to one and competed in the event.

the girls free of cost. In fact, I have The best part is that I won the 2nd

appointed one girl from Standard prize. When I told my mother about

10 for the task of disbursing it, she was shocked,” laughs

sanitary napkins to individual girls Bhagyashree.

who need them and maintaining a


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The best part of the MHM

programme, according to Pallavi,

Priyanka, Bhagyashree and their

schoolmates is the incinerator.

“Earlier we had to dispose our

sanitary napkins by dumping them

outside the boundary wall of our

KGBV and setting fire to the heap

at sunset. It was cumbersome. The

incinerator is so much more

convenient, safe and hygienic,”

say the girls.

The intervention has been been the Zilla Parishad’s decision

successful in that it has been able to scale-up the MHM programme

to meet the objectives stated at the to all schools in Jalna district.

outset. Girls in the 50 Zilla

P a r i s h a d s c h o o l s , t h e

Ashramshalas and the KGBV

covered by the project have begun

to openly talk about menstruation

and related issues – something

that has never happened before.

This is also the first time that reach

has been so complete – covering

both gir ls who are in the

menstruating age and those who

are yet to attain menarche. An

entire generation is slowly feeling

empowered because they are

menstrual hygiene-aware.

In addition to this, the awareness

campaign had led to many schools

deve lop ing the necessary

infrastructure – clean, safe,

separate toilets for girls, with

running water, soap and dustbins –

for girls to access.

But the biggest impact of the MHM

intervention under DHaAL has

Results

For more information, please contact:

Yusuf Kabir, WASH Officer

United Nations Children’s FundField Office of Maharashtra

R2 B-Wing, Technopolis Building, Mahakali Caves Road, Near

MIDC, Opp. Holy Family School, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400 060

Tel: (022) 26875174 [email protected]

www.unicef.org


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