Pledge A Period, Change A Life
Goal for #PledgeAPeriod
It’s about time we contribute within our capacity.
We are raising ₹10 lac ($13571.93) to reach out to 5,000 girls.
Your donations will help us reach out to girls in urban slums of Mumbai and help them manage their periods with dignity for at least one month. Donate NOW and help a girl manage her health and hygiene!
Your contribution of ₹200 per girl, will go towards helping 5000 menstruating girls and women
in the following ways:
- To get a hygiene kit for a month which includes - sanitary pads, underwear, face mask, sanitizer
- To get paper disposal bags for each pad
- Receive education and awareness about Menstrual Hygiene provided in these ways:
- Virtual education through the Myna Mahila Health Application Dispensers for easy access to health and hygiene materials (such as sanitary pads, face masks, etc.) without any shame of having to approach a chemist shopkeeper
- Sensitization Vehicle (Bus/Van) to provide sanitary pads and other hygiene materials for women, education, and awareness
- Address livelihood concerns among the urban slum communities by creating tech-job opportunities
4. Safety gear for our field team reach out to women and girls in the remote areas of urban slums
Azmati, a college drop-out, from the slums of Govandi, Mumbai, had attended one of our Sponsor A Girl sessions. She came to us with a hope, and expressed her willingness to join us in some way. She had to drop out of junior college, after her 11th grade, as her parents believed that the world outside is bad and she needs to be protected. She was allowed to join Myna only because it is a women's organization, and was considered to be safe, by her parents. As a leader and a fellow at Myna, she progressed well. She learned how to do micro-management, fill out evaluation forms, and even worked her way around using a laptop!
She no longer uses old rags during her periods. Her transition from a silent girl to the one who mobilizes communities for session, is marvellous. She now speaks to Muslim women, from her religious circle, about the different religious taboos associated with periods. Her way of working has also become extremely professional.
Why support #PledgeAPeriod?
#PledgeAPeriod is a fundraising campaign that aims to increase access to women’s health related products, create awareness and bring attitudinal change, thereby improving women’s health and breaking the taboo and stigmas attached to menstrual health and hygiene for girls like Azmati in the urban slums of Mumbai and beyond.
Periods do not stop in Pandemics.
1.To continue to engage with our beneficiaries in the Pandemic and simultaneously reach out to more women and girls, MMF has developed a mobile application in local language for the ease of use of our beneficiaries. The
Myna Health App aims to provide women-tailored educational content around health and menstrual hygiene and create individual profiles to record health related activities.
2.Your support will also help us run a mobile sensitisation vehicle(bus/van) travelling across 15 locations in the urban slums of Mumbai to distribute ration kits, sanitary napkins, awareness materials and face masks among vulnerable community pockets with focus on daily wage earners and their families.
3.MMF aims to install hygiene product dispensers among interior areas which cannot be accessed by a vehicle to improve access to menstrual hygiene products. These product dispensers will allow its users to access sanitary pads, disposable bags, hand soap and face masks within the comfort of their locality.
Overall Myna Impact Since 2015
We have reached out to more than 5,00,000 women at the door step over the years, and manufactured 10,96,105 pads over the last four years, and have more than a 90% return rate because of the personalised attention each woman receives.
We have been able to convert 5,000 women across 15 slums to use sanitary napkins from using old rag cloths and did not have access to enough water and space to wash and dry them.
As part of our COVID19 sanitary relief initiative, we have distributed over 1,54,462 pads to girls and women affected by the pandemic in the M-east ward of Mumbai.
By changing the behaviors of women and mothers, Myna also brings out an impact on the young girls of the families and leads them towards better menstrual hygiene management.
About Myna Mahila Foundation
Myna Mahila Foundation (MMF) is a social enterprise based in Mumbai’s Govandi slums. We aim to empower women to speak about the issues they are most afraid of speaking aloud by improving menstrual hygiene, employing women from low-income families, and building women’s networks. MMF aims to improve menstrual hygiene access and shifting behaviors for 2 million women and girls by 2025.
#PledgeAPeriod is an initiative to raise funds to contribute towards supporting these 2 million menstruating women and girls in India.
We are extremely grateful to our donors for all their help and support towards this initiative.