GHM: Menstrual hygiene management in Togo and Sierra Leone
According to UNESCO, 1 in 10 girls in sub-Saharan Africa miss school when they menstruate, and many are dropped from school as soon as their first period, due to a lack of sanitary protection and adequate sanitary facilities in schools.
Menstrual precariousness therefore remains taboo. Yet the mere biological fact of menstruation should not be an obstacle to gender equality, nor should it prevent women and girls from enjoying their human rights.
Combating menstrual insecurity of girls and women in Togo and Sierra Leone
In 2024, in close collaboration with the women it supports in their entrepreneurship, the French NGO Entrepreneurs du Monde is launching a project to :
– Improve knowledge and appropriation of fundamental rights in menstrual hygiene management and sexual and reproductive health.
– Support the scaling-up of social enterprises producing high-quality, affordable washable sanitary towels.
– Improve access to water and the management of sanitary facilities in schools.
Objectives by the end of 2026:
- 35,600 women and girls will have access to a high-quality, eco-responsible and cost-effective solution to their menstrual hygiene needs.
- 36,000 people will have been made aware of their fundamental rights in terms of menstrual hygiene, sexual and reproductive health and gender equality.
- 6 schools will have improved the management of their sanitary facilities
- 2 social enterprises producing and marketing menstrual hygiene products will have been created and/or incubated
- 1 model will have been capitalized on for replication in West Africa
