Fostering a more enabling environment for menstrual practices for girls by engaging boys, parents, and older peers

Project:
Splash Menstrual Health

Location:
India and Ethiopia

Partners:
Splash

Category:
WASH

Challenge

Globally, millions of girls lack access to the knowledge and means to manage their menstruation with safety and dignity, with serious consequences for their education, health, and economic empowerment. In addition, stigmatization of menstrual health presents real-world consequences to girls’ bodily autonomy, physical and mental health, and ability to pursue an education. According to the United Nations, one hundred and thirteen million adolescent girls between the ages of 12-14 in India alone are at risk of dropping out of school because of the stigma surrounding menstrual health.

While menstrual health initiatives, tools, and guidance are gradually emerging, there are still significant challenges regarding efforts to target key stakeholders who influence prevailing practices and social norms regarding menstrual health. There is a need for initiatives that are able to shift prevailing attitudes, behaviors, and practices of male peers, parents, and older female peers to create a more supportive and inclusive ecosystem for menstruating girls.

Splash, our partner and funder, considers their menstrual health program to be an integral component of their overall focus on WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene). From 2019–2023, Splash’s goal is to reach 100% of government schools and over 500,000 girls in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Kolkata, India, with menstrual health services and education, ensuring that girls have the necessary knowledge, products, facilities, and social environment to thrive.

As a part of their larger WASH initiative, Splash is working to foster a supportive ecosystem for menstruating girls, at scale, by working in partnership with caregivers, male peers, teachers, and older female peers to deliver menstrual health education and support. The Splash team partnered with YLabs to provide training in youth-driven design to their India and Ethiopia country teams, as well as build a suite of prototypes and testing strategies to support the provision of menstrual health information and conversation to key stakeholders.

Innovation

Curriculum design:

YLabs designed six unique curriculums for boys, parents, and older peers to foster a more enabling environment for menstrual practices for girls in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Kolkata, India. By incorporating robust background research from the Splash team with interviews with young girls, our team developed and designed the following rough prototypes in two countries. 

• A 3-hour workshop for boys 14-17 years old to increase knowledge and normalize anatomy, puberty, menstruation, and gender equity. The workshop includes a facilitation guide for an instructor and a reference booklet and worksheets for the students. 

• A facilitated chat group for parents on WhatsApp or Telegram to increase awareness and support for their children. The curriculum includes tools to support four key touchpoints with parents during the school year, a reference guide for parents, and a facilitator guide. 

• An eight-week peer mentoring curriculum designed to supplement the menstrual health curriculum already taught in the schools. This curriculum includes a peer mentoring training guide, a checklist, and activity sheets.

Capacity building:

YLabs developed a prototyping toolkit for the Kolkata and Addis teams, led a three-day training, and provided remote support to country teams during prototyping. As the local team navigated user testing amid the complications of COVID closures, YLabs helped oversee data collection, management, and analysis. When testing was complete, YLabs presented clear documentation of prototyping findings and recommended iterations to expand upon the launch prototypes at scale.

Next Steps

After successfully prototyping with 83 young people, facilitators, and parents, YLabs is continuing to collaborate with the Splash team to iterate on the prototypes and prepare to pilot this innovative program in 2021. Splash’s Project WISE (WASH in Schools for Everyone) intends to reach 1,200+ government schools in Kolkata and 450 schools in Addis Ababa over the next 5 years with its holistic WASH-in-schools model consisting of quality WASH infrastructure, clean water solutions, innovative menstrual health solutions, and health and hygiene behavior change programming. The initiative will reach and improve the lives of half a million girls.