The Executive Director and Donor Relations Manager of the Contemporary Development Initiatives (
CONDI)
Habakkuk Watara Sackor
and
Lorraine Dunn Anderson, accompanied by few other staff of
CONDI
met with Miss Sandra Boakye, the West Africa Director of
Days for Girls
in July 2021, had a fruitful and rewarding discussion which led to a progressive partnership on how to introduce the reusable sanitary pads to end period poverty issues amongst rural girls in Liberia.
Days for Girls Ghana, for over several years have been in the production and distribution of safe, hygienic washable and reusable sanitary pads and products to help reduce period poverty in West Africa.
This project aims to strengthen local communities by enabling and empowering girls to more consistent access to education and improving the knowledge base amongst Liberian women about their reproductive health and shedding light on avenues for them to achieve a better quality of life. This project is in alignment with CONDI’s current over-arching program ‘Ending Period Poverty’ under the Sit-A-Child program which aims to Restore Hope and Share Love with Disadvantaged Children in Deprived Communities.
Team
CONDI
was taken on a tour of the production and packaging site where we were educated how the pads are produced. The materials used are safe, hygienic and pose no health threat to the female's intimate areas. We were amazed at the level of dedication, passion and carefulness the workers put into their work. As each worker explains his/her role, you see the joy and passion they expressed by the step-by-step display of how each item is produced and packaged. They tell you how it brings them joy knowing their hard work is bringing smiles to rural girls.
It is with this same passion, and beyond that CONDI wishes to introduce to Liberia, the need to minimize and/or eradicate period poverty, especially in rural areas, to bring dignity to girls during menstruation.
Through partnership with
Days for Girls (DfG), we will carry-out an initial project stage that will provide girls in impoverished and slum areas of Monrovia and other nearby rural counties’ cities with access to sanitary products (Reusable Sanitary Pads). This initial stage of the project aims to build relationships with communities and build the platform for scaling the project-up in the second stage. The aim and goal of this initial stage is to provide access to basic sanitary products to school-girls so that they can consistently go to school and close the gender gap in social justice in regard to education.
Ending period poverty is a MUST, with the assistance of likeminded individuals together can be achieved. The girl child need not stay home from school or other outdoor activities just because she's on her monthly natural flow.