EDUCATION
Our vision is to see healthy, educated and self-sufficient communities within the Ejere district of Ethiopia with a particular focus on education for girls.
Due to interventions including supply of desks, tables, books, library resources, latrines and hand washing facilities, the district education office data saw girls enrolment in school increase from less than 25% to 47.42% (Data from 2019).
As part of our secondary girls scholarship program, the teenagers were offered disposable period pads, enabling them to attend school without worry. The girls soon started advocating to provide pads for their peers.
Sourcing the right materials for making our own period pads in-situ was cost prohibitive, but in seeking a more environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative. We are now connected with a UK charity who supply the period pads to us. We source funding for the shipping, cost of internal transport in Ethiopia, the salary of our facilitators who train the girls in menstrual hygiene, self-defence at the schools and providing refreshments for participants as is customary in this set up. It is hoped that production of these pads can start in Ethiopia in the next few years enabling direct support of a local enterprise instead.
Girls in rural Ethiopia start school much later than boys as they are needed to collect water and firewood. Therefore many girls aged 14-17 are still in primary school. An exam needs to be passed at the end of primary school to move onto high school. Girls could miss up to 5 days a month, or 20% of learning time due to their periods without access to period products. Only 40% of the girls have access to disposable pads due to their cost. The 60% that don’t are less likely to advance to high school. To help more girls pass primary school, our team in Ethiopia decided to start distribution in primary schools.
To date we have reached 1,385 girls who have received reusable sanitary pad packs and attended training workshops. Prior to this 60% of girls were using old rags and as such were missing school out of fear of leaking through their clothes and the shame this would bring. All of the girls interviewed and reviewed 6 months later confirmed they were no longer missing days off school due to their period.
Our current partnerships with the community include:
- a purpose built girls education centre and 4 year scholarship program enabling 32 secondary school girls from remote rural villages to attend high school
- building an extension to the centre to double the scholarship program capacity
- 85 primary school children a year are supported by a hardship fund
- 20 children living with disabilities supported to go to school and a new purpose built unit for these children at one of the primary schools
- Menstrual health training and distribution of reusable period pad packs to secondary school girls.
Due to interventions including supply of desks, tables, books, library resources, latrines and hand washing facilities, the district education office data saw girls enrolment in school increase from less than 25% to 47.42% (Data from 2019).
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© 2024 For-ethiopia – Registered Charity 1108526 (England and Wales)
For-ethiopia
34 Bibury Crescent, Bristol, BS9 4PW
