"Menstrual hygiene management is very important for girls' education in my country, Cameroon.

Our organisation went to the Anglophone public school of Lake Yaoundé where there are about 60% of children from internally displaced families. They had to flee the English-speaking regions because of the instability to seek shelter in the city of Yaoundé. Some children are orphans.

The heartfelt appeal was to go and give extra notebooks and other school supplies to these vulnerable and distressed children. They all have the same right to go to school as all other pupils despite the difficult integration in the city of Yaoundé and the precariousness of their families.." read full report

Ms Thérèse AKAKPO Coordinator writes:

"...The project was very beneficial for the students, especially the girls. It has reinforced the visibility of IAW and LA COLOMBE, strengthened our partnership with the hospital in the town of Vogan through the midwife, as well as the partnership with the school...
The headmaster would like these sessions to be repeated every year..." read full report.

Anne Yotchou coordinator of CEFAP writes:

"...I can safely say that the project has been very well received by the whole educational community. We are honoured and especially satisfied with the results and feedback. Our team has been congratulated by the administrative and traditional authorities. The pupils who benefited from the project promised to put their knowledge into practice. The girls promised to be wise and to concentrate on their education. They want to be advocates for girls' rights to education and for healthy menstrual hygiene management in schools, all in their respective local communities. We have set up clubs in the different schools..." read full report

"...The goal was to help adolescents, in particular young girls, to face the various challenges of puberty. We carried out an awareness-raising activity at the bilingual high school of BIKOK on September 29th, 2021. The topic of the day was focused on menstrual hygiene...We defined the menstrual cycle and its functioning, then the definition of the menstrual hygiene. We proceeded by the demonstration of the handling of disposable and non-disposable sanitary napkins. We talked about well adaptable underwear during the bleeding..." read full report.

Our target school was again Epworth High School in an area with debilitating poverty. We also engaged Speciss College located at Harare. Explaining sexual health and adolescent health issues was largely made easy by the availability of the booklet provided by IAW Entering Womenhood. Some of the content was from the booklet Hé les Miss a booklet written in French and German by the Swiss Sexual Health organization.

Read the full report - an impressioning success story!

"...The aim was to keep the school environment clean during the activity to encourage the pupils and to respect the barrier measures to prevent covid 19. Then we prepared the necessary materials and shared the roles...

The agenda for both schools started with the welcome by the head teachers, which was followed by the presentation of the Aunties. They explained the 'Water and Towels' project and why they were doing these teachings in the schools..."
read whole report
Photo:Monique Agiagnini Nvuoh, Directrice adjointe à l'ecole publique Luogeo Doubay

The RENATA Community Mobilization Officer (CMO) travelled to the Far North on March 17 2021

and arrived on March 18. Upon arrival, she held a planning meeting with 3 teachers, peers who would be attending the outreach activities. We prepared the necessary materials and shared roles. The team also made calls to reporters and principals at both schools to make sure they were ready....more

"Bunyakiri is a village in the territory of Kalehe in South Kivu, located 70 km from the city of Bukavu.

SOFEDEC's mission is to help women in general and girls in particular to promote their rights. It has never given up in its struggle to achieve this goal.

The road to Bunyakiri is really horrible, because it is often almost impassable and not safe. You must cross the Kahuzi Biega National Park to get to the villages near Bunyakiri. This poses great safety risks for travellers..."  Read whole report

"At the beginning of  February 2021 we went back to Medjo where we had the third phase of the project that was planned in 2020 but due the pandemic, we could not make it....The Water and Pads project for schoolgirls has been a wonderful project. We can even call it a revolutionary initiative that is really changing mindset within the communities. Gradually it is dispelling shame and taboos around the periodic bleeding..."
Read the full report.

On Sunday January 3^rd 2021 we hosted the pads program. We partnered with Spar Braeside who generously provided the venue and also contributed snacks for the occasion. With the written consent of the children’s parents we targeted girls aged 9 – 15 years.
The lockdown which took effect from January 5^th, 2021 has disturbed our programs. Our aim was to teach girls who had not started menstrual periods how to use pads and tampons and cascade the program to 6 different schools, travel to the rural areas where the need is greater..read full report.