Positive Periods Enable Education
Girls all around the world are missing a quarter of their school days because of a natural bodily function called menstruation or periods.
It’s often a taboo subject, with shame and stigma attached, and many have no method of managing it. Without access to education and safe period products women are forced to use unhygienic methods that can cause infection.
Many women and girls cannot afford to buy period products, and even when these are given for free, in some parts of the world, there is often no good way to dispose of the products after use.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
The Steve Sinnott Foundation works with people to build local solutions that respect their culture and desires and that are owned and managed by them so that they will work long term.
Our positive periods program is sustainable. Women learn to make their own sanitary pads with locally sourced and affordable materials, alongside investing in health education and skills enables women to manage their periods with dignity and pride.
Our solution has no waste products, it is long lasting, and is eco-friendly. Reusable pads done the right way, are a tried and tested method respecting the differences in each country.
We enable people rather than creating dependence on costly products that clog up the environment. Women teach other women, men teach their sisters, we all teach each other, we are starting a movement, and we are asking you to join it.
There are 10 benefits to our Positive Periods Program:
1. MISSING SCHOOL - Girls will no longer miss a quarter of their school days. This will have a massive impact on their education and thus on their future prospects.
2. SHAME - It will no longer be a taboo subject, with shame and stigma attached. This will allow girls and women to have dignity and pride in their bodies.
3. HEALTH - Hygiene will be improved and infection can be avoided. This will improve women’s health and longevity.
4. ECO-FRIENDLY – They are made of recycled materials, they are re-usable, there is no waste (unlike the disposable sanitary pads that clog up the environment and cause pollution)
5. SUSTAINABLE – The program is based on education, it’s designed to be spread and the knowledge shared so that there is a wave of change.
6. COST - These pads are low cost, and can be made from materials women already have. They can also make pads to sell to others, thus creating an income from them.
7. LOCAL – Each program respects the locale that it is delivered, taking into account the local culture, local materials, local concerns and is delivered by local people. This means that it’s owned by the community.
8. ADAPTABLE - It’s not a one size fits all programme, there are different templates to use, different body shapes to respect, different spaces to teach it in, different equipment to use, and different words to describe a period.
9. COMFORTABLE – The pads have to be comfortable so that women can get on with their day. They have to work with the clothes different women wear and keep them looking good.
10. FUN – Periods don’t have to be boring, even the pads can be made to look nice, and making them together is a fun crafting session for women to talk and laugh together about being women (and often we include men too).
Our vision for Positive Periods is this:
Now girls are able to go to school. Women are talking to each other. Periods are not a taboo, they are a natural and necessary function. Women and men are sharing this program and teaching others.
With your help this programme can be sown in over 10 different countries, it will grow and spread and it will enable girls to go back to school, and women to take control of their lives.
This is Development at its best, women and men working in solidarity! How does it make you feel knowing that you are part of a new, sustainable movement, making periods positive and women free?
We need you to make this happen. So we are asking you to Donate NOW.
Go with the flow.
The Steve Sinnott Foundation • December 1, 2020
This week while out and about in Hertfordshire and we visited the British Schools Museum. We discovered the first school opened by Joseph Lancaster, was known as the ‘Poor Childs Friend”, was in 1810. It was his lifelong mission that all children regardless of their circumstances, should benefit from an education. Apparently, Joseph heard a small girl say, “Oh that I could read!” and this inspired him to create a simple education system that eventually would benefit children across the world. Joseph was the tenth son of a poor man himself from South London. His aim was to offer free education for everyone. However, it would be 93 years before the U.K. government finally made education free for all. There are still many countries today where education is still not free to access and it is certainly not compulsory for primary and secondary age pupils. Joseph’s mission really resonates with that of the Foundation, to support access to education for all. We enjoyed our visit and appreciated the tour given by two of the Museum’s volunteers, Angela and Clare. They described some of the challenges faced in the early years of formal education and shared some of the rules that teachers and students had to abide by with us.
Sparks Bristol is a collaborative community project initially envisioned by The Global Goals Centre, (GGC) more of which below. A few years ago, GGC took over an empty Marks and Spencer store and that’s how Sparks was born. Sparks is a department store with a difference, co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace. On the ground floor is a huge range of shops, installations, events and more. Upstairs is a hub for local artists, it offers affordable studios as well as rehearsal and performance space. The Global Goals Centre is a Bristol-based educational charity inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs). GGC believe the SDG’s or Global Goals as they are sometimes known, can be reached, with imaginative solutions and widespread education and engagement. They work with partners to promote creative solutions and deliver ground breaking projects that work towards these ambitious goals. The Steve Sinnott Foundation supported the Global Goals Centre with seed funding when it first started over 5 years ago. This month we went to visit them to see how they are getting on and we were taken aback by the volume of work they have achieved since they started. It is amazing to see how though working together with other local community groups it has grown into the vibrant centre it is today. All of the creative projects they host are linked to the SDGs. They cover topics that tackle poverty, education, climate change, fashion recycling and upcycling, to name a few.
Spring is definitely here, daffodils, blossom and crocuses are all basking in the bright sunshine. There is still a chill in the air in the shade but it's happening and all the seeds that were sown over the last few months are coming to fruition. At the Foundation, we have been planning the year ahead and our Positive Periods and Prevention of Gender Based Violence programmes got underway this weekend in Haiti and Ghana. These projects will have a long-lasting effect on the lives of the women and girls who take part: tackling the root causes of gender-based violence and enabling girls to attend school every day when they have their period, to feel safe at school and know how to take action when they are faced with violence. These are the first of many projects planned for the year ahead as we continue to work towards Education for All children everywhere.
