Acholi Girls Fairer Future Project

The Acholi Girls Fairer Future Project seeks to help girls continue with their education during the crucial transition from primary school to secondary school. In Uganda, primary education is mandatory, and substantial government subsidies make primary schools affordable for struggling families. Secondary schools are not mandatory and are much less heavily subsidized. Families frequently choose not to send their girls on to secondary schools because their school performance often drops due to high absenteeism after the start of their menstrual cycles. Without sanitary pads, girls simply stay home, and missed time in school translates into poor grades, which means many of these girls don’t progress in their education.

Emmanuel International has been going to local primary schools, teaching girls 12 years and older about their menstrual cycle and how to manage it, the importance of education, and that they are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. The girls are each given 4 pairs of underwear and 4 reusable sanitary pads. Over the last 5 years, over 20,000 girls have been reached!

The key challenge for moving forward with this project is sustainability. There will not always be an organization to hand out sanitary pads to girls. Currently, many parents do not see the value in buying a pack of reusable pads, often opting for disposable pads or none at all. They could be made part of the school uniform. Since these pads are locally made, there is an economic opportunity for these pads to contribute to the livelihood of tailors in Pader, if only parents could be convinced that these pads are worth buying. The next phase of this project must explore and implement a workable strategy for sustainability.

Responsibilities

• Make annual budgets and work plans for the project
• Oversee the local production of sanitary pads and procurement of other materials for school visits
• Plan and supervise field visits by staff to local schools
• Gather and compile school reports
• Receive and disperse project funds and provide financial accountability and reporting
• Assisting with fundraising and communicating with potential donors and foundations
• Liaising with and lobbying the local government to keep girls hygiene as a priority issue with the District Education office
• Creating and implementing a strategy for sustainability to help girls have access to sanitary pads beyond the lifetime of this project
• Partnering and collaborating with other organizations working towards the same goal