The Girl’s Pride
Fahari yaMsichana
Fahari ya Msichana
Fahari ya Msichana (The Girl’s Pride) program realizes the significance of a positive influence on the girl child in the development of the society. This program provides training on menstrual health hygiene management, sexual & reproductive health, through which access to menstrual hygiene products and knowledge is made easier.
Now Is the Time to Act
Fahari ya Msichana program caters to school-going girls from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds in their puberty. The component of including male students and community contributes significantly to tackling gender-based violence and creating a much safer environment for girls. Female students face great challenges in terms of hygiene and sanitation. For girls who are menstruating, these problems compound the difficulties posed by the inability to afford sanitary towels as well as cultural taboos around menstruation. As a result, many girls miss on average of four days of school every month which is over a month in a year, meaning they fall behind in class and sometimes even drop out of school altogether. This is an added challenge to the already existing problems that lead to the high dropout rate of female students in primary and secondary schools.
The main problems faced by women and girls due to period poverty are:
- The lack of resources for washing such as soap;
- Limited education about the facts of menstruation;
- Limited access to counseling and guidance;
- Fear caused by cultural myths;
- Embarrassment and low self-esteem;
- And the unsupportive attitudes of some men.
- The expense of sanitary pads;
- Absenteeism where girls stay at home rather than attending school when menstruating;
- Unhygienic ways to dry menstrual materials;
- Inadequate waste disposal facilities;
- Lack of privacy for changing menstrual materials;
- Leakage from poor-quality protection materials;
Fahari ya Msichana’s aim is to radically create a world where women and girls can step boldly into the promise of their future. The goal of this project is to empower the vulnerable girls through provision of sanitary pads and capacity building on menstrual hygiene management and reproductive health for improved school performance and self-esteem. This is done through distribution of sanitary pads as well as ensuring provision of menstrual hygiene management education and facilities to girls in primary and secondary schools in rural Tanzania. By acquiring knowledge on menstrual health hygiene management, the overall health status of the girls is enhanced as myths and misconceptions that surround puberty and menstruation is also demystified. It is consequently anticipated that by providing reusable pads, the number of learning days that a girl will receive as a result of this program will be increased by as much as 3-5 days in a month. Girls that are regularly absent from school are more likely to fail to transit successfully through the education system or drop out of school completely. By reducing the number of days of absenteeism related to their menstrual cycle, retention and transition rates amongst girls at individual schools can improve by 60%. Girls are therefore able to go to school and participate in school activities thereby ensuring a holistic development i.e., mental, physical and social development. With the significant reduction in dropout cases amongst girls, which will ultimately lead to improved performance of girls in schools, these will eventually culminate into increased income opportunities for girls as they finish school and are able to access more opportunities for income earning/generation and dignified livelihoods.