Days for Girls Eswatini

  We are excited to introduce you to Lindiwe, the wonderful Director of Days for Girls' Social Enterprise in Eswatini. Lindiwe, a devoted mother and grandmother, brings her wealth of experience as a former teacher to this  transformative work. During her time with Support to Education (a training program funded by the European Union), a female teacher asked her about period poverty and supporting schools. This key question stuck with Lindiwe. Driven to find a lasting solution, Lindiwe discovered Days for Girls—the first menstrual-related organization she found that included an educational component.  "The teacher in me said this is the right program,"  Lindiwe shared. With over seven years at Days for Girls, Lindiwe’s dedication to advancing menstrual equity is truly inspiring. She works hard to engage everyone—men, governments, women, older women, and young girls—in the journey toward menstrual equity.

.                                                   In collaboration with the Aids Health Foundation (AHF), Day for Girls took part in a groundbreaking walk towards advocating for the end of sanitary products tax. Over 70% of the Eswatini population does not afford to buy sanitary pads. Tax on menstrual products increases lack of access to sanitary pads for women and girls, especially low-income consumers. Insufficient access to menstrual products results to menstruators facing insurmountable barriers when managing their period. Girls end up missing school because they do not afford menstrual health products. The walk was a public act of objection, a call for change and path to achieving menstrual equity. Women, men, boys and girls came together to express dissent towards the lack of affordability of menstrual health products. A decision to lift tax on sanita...

 ( DfG Director Lindiwe Dladla interviewed by Sifiso Nxumalo)  Menstrual health advocacy is pivotal in attaining menstrual equity. Days for Girls takes on numerous platforms to reach a wider audience with menstrual health education as a form of advocacy. We were invited to the Kusile breakfast show where we educated viewers on menstrual health and the DfG washable pad which we call the "smart girls' choice". Prioritizing MH education helps break menstrual stigma and taboos. Deconstructing stigma will enhance positive attitudes around menstruation thus creating supportive environments for menstruators.MH education helps increase body literacy and confidence in managing a period. We further used this platform to urge relevant stakeholders and authorities to recognize MH as a public health issue.MH is a human right and a critical component to achieving gender equality. Prioritizing menstrual health education and access to sanitary pads will be significant steps to awards mai...

  The main obstacle that menstruators often face is that of the lack access to sanitary pads. However, we often overlook inadequate menstrual facilities that affect proper menstrual health management.  During our in-school washable sanitary pads distributions, where we also offer menstrual health education, the girls would share that they kept one pad on the entire day. This was due to the lack privacy in the school toilets thus girls feeling unsafe. This poses urinary health risks. Ideally, a pad should be changed every 3 to 4 hours. Old toilets Through the US embassy Ambassador's Special Self-Help Program, DfG built its first menstrual friendly pit-latrine toilet at Mabasa Primary School. Mabasa Primary school pupils are recipients of the DfG washable sanitary pads. The toilets ensured privacy, luminous light, ventilation and artwork   to help increase girls' self-esteem. DfG also constructed an incinerator for the disposal of sanitary pads.  Menstrual Friendl...

            (Musa Dlamini Days for Girls Ambassador) Days for Girls was invited to give a presentation to 23 church leaders on the importance of incorporating menstrual heath conversations in church programs. This would help break down the stigma around menstruation, menstrual blood is often considered dirty, and some religions believe that a woman should be isolated on her red days. It is for this reason that MH education should be offered in the church to cancel out false ideologies about menstruation in order to build the self-esteem of menstruators and instil pride as well as dignity of being a menstruator. Moreover, cooperating life skills topics in church can be a valuable way to engage with the congregation and community on to influence positive daily decisions. Here are some ways churches can promote healthy lifestyles: - Encouraging   healthier ways of living - Christians are preached to honour their bodies because the body is the Lord's te...

                                             (Malkerns Market) Days for Girls has proven to be unstoppable. We continue to take on market spaces by bringing Menstrual Health (MH) education and the DfG washable pad to the people. Our Goal is to take action towards raising MH awareness in efforts to put MH on the agenda. Days for Girls also uses the tool of social media and other media platforms to break cultural taboos and stigma around menstruation, by giving accurate MH education and improve MH resource accessibility. MH is interlinked with several SDGs therefore it is pivotal for MH to be made a priority. Additionally, prioritizing MH is a way of empowering girls and attaining menstrual equity.             ( One Billion Rising GBV awareness event)   DfG sets up stalls in different markets in Eswatini to display our washable, cost-effect...