Sponsor sanitary napkins for rural women by Gram Vikas Trust

Sponsor sanitary napkins for rural women

Impact

Help in making life easier for rural women

Channiben Vasava is a resident of Dumalpur village. She is 38 years of age and is a married woman with three daughters. The economy of the family is earned from daily wages. She was aware about Asani sanitary napkins only after attending the Menstrual Hygiene Management awareness program organised by a field officer of Gram Vikas Trust. She says, “Attending the MHM awareness program has helped me to understand the importance of menstrual health and how a woman can take care of herself by small steps of hygiene”. According to the field officer she has also trained her three daughters on using pads after seeing the demo in MHM awareness. She says that she feels very comfortable in using pads and she is now confident that her daughters will also be safe and healthy by using pads instead of clothes.

Asani continues to help women and girls like her to learn about menstrual hygiene and the health benefits of using safe sanitary napkins.

Your help will ensure safe and hygienic menstrual management for the rural women like Channiben. You can help them by sponsoring sanitary napkins

You can give with confidence because every program listed is [GIVEASSURED] (https://monthly.giveindia.org/giveassured).

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Giveassured

By donating to this program

you will be sponsoring the overall costs incurred to support the beneficiaries


About The Program

What the beneficiary gets
Sanitation
Livelihood
What you get
Tax Exemption
Periodic Reports
Program Description

According to research, over 80% of women in India do not use sanitary napkins.

Sanitary napkins are generally unavailable in rural areas of the country and if available, they are too expensive for rural households to afford.

Therefore, women resort to age-old alternatives like cloth, ashes, and husk sand during menstruation. These substitutes are not only extremely uncomfortable but also the cause of various diseases and infections, some of which have lifelong effects. Unhygienic menstrual practices can affect the health of the girls and women and there is an increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infections and pelvic inflammatory diseases and other complications.

As there are lots of myth and taboos associated with menstruation and also due to lack of education, rural women are not aware of the consequences of unhealthy sanitation, nor are they keen to discuss about menstruation-related problem in the open.

A female from a rural region will almost never ask a male shopkeeper for a packet of sanitary napkin. Even in the urban areas, females are hesitant to purchase napkins.

To overcome these and to make women and girls use sanitary pads for better menstrual hygiene, Gram Vikas Trust in association with Desai foundation started Asani sanitary napkin - for women by women program. In Asani program high quality low cost sanitary napkin are prepared by a group of women and also sold by them at faliya level.

With the help of SHG members, ASHA workers, local leaders or any other NGO in the village, DFT runs campaigns to create awareness among adolescent girls and women.

There is a small team which is involved in the production of sanitary napkins through a machine. The packing and packaging are done by hand.

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About The NGO

Gram Vikas Trust
Gram Vikas Trust Logo
Gram Vikas Trust

Hailing from a rural background, the founder of Gram Vikas Trust (GVT) was no stranger to hardships. Ramesh Kasondra, himself, has undergone several economic and social challenges.

In order to convert his experience and exposure to support and uplift his society, he established Gram Vikas Trust. GVT now operates in more than 100 villages of Bharuch district with the key areas being child rights, education, health and hygiene, sustainable livelihood, and women empowerment. GVT's belief that knowledge is the path to self-development has re-enrolled thousands of school drop-outs back to school. To promote an equitable living environment, GVT gives vocational training to hundreds of students each year along with awareness on health and hygiene.

The organization was actively involved in constructing and renovating the sanitation facilities of the Government Schools in and around their district. GVT is committed to creating a strong and independent society without inequality. It aims for a society free of discrimination and where everybody enjoys equal opportunities.

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founders
Founded in 1991
NGO Leadership

Ramesh J. Kasondra

areas of operation
Area of Operation
Area of Operation

Girl Child | education

location of work
Location of Work
Location of Work

Gujarat

Gram Vikas Trust has

provided vocational training to 675 unerprivileged youth across the country

last audited
Last Audited
Periodic Compliance Checks by GiveIndia

Renewals FY 19-20

Program Updates

Program Updates

22 September, 2023

An update on the program you are supporting

#5

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

Total number of beneficiaries impacted was 692 out of which 100% were females, in Bharuch, Gujarat


Challenges faced and next steps

We have conducted following activities during the period: 1. Identified needy and poor adolescent and women 2. Organised Menstrual Hygiene Awareness 3. Identified village level volunteer for regular supply of sanitary pads. 4. Provided low cost high quality sanitary napkins pads to needy girls and women on monthly basis at their doorstep. At present our Menstrual Hygiene Management programme has expanded to more than 250 tribal villages.


Stories from the ground

Anita Vasava is far from being the only one. Girls in Fulwadi village lack basic knowledge about their sexual and reproductive health and struggle to access menstrual health supplies to manage their menstrual hygiene. Many grapple with shame and taboos surrounding menstruation. These issues undermine girls� health and rights. Girls can be subjected to stigma or miss school due to difficulty managing their menstrual hygiene. Anita Vasava understands these challenges. �I hated going to class,� she told Field Officer. Fortunately for Anita, she participated in a Gram Vikas Trust supported menstrual hygiene awareness programme organized, and it changed her life forever. �I have now taken it upon myself to help other girls in school experiencing their first menstrual period. Now I know that it�s a normal human body function and there is no need to be embarrassed.� she said.


6 December, 2022

Menstruation defines a strong women

#4

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

The actual situation for women is more dire than ever due to the country's rising inflation and poverty. The last thing the family considers buying is sanitary pads because women's purchasing power is so limited in rural and tribal areas. To address the demand for sanitary pads among women, GVT, which has a sanitary pad production facility, produced more than 5 lakh pads in the previous year. The program's intervention areas include all 8 talukas in the Bharuch District. This programme has an influence on more than 400 rural and tribal women. Through the programme, the sanitary pads will aid 400 adolescents/women every month during their periods.


Challenges faced and next steps

One of the major concerns is tribal women do not easily accept sanitary pads due to old myth so it is challenge for us to organise repeated awareness programme in each villages. There is no local store or business that sells sanitary pads in this region. Due to remote and interior trible area, it difficult for rural and tribal women to get sanitary pads during their periods at their doorstep. To ensure that no girl in rural and tribal India is susceptible to illnesses brought on by using soiled cloth instead of sanitary napkins, GVT aims to connect and penetrate its networks to funding agencies and sponsors who share our purpose. We were able to reach the district's rural areas with the assistance of the district administration, making our supply available to everyone. We want to make this a successful programme that allows everyone in the district's rural and tribal areas to easily acquire sanitary napkins without having to worry about their ability to pay.


Stories from the ground

In a tribal residential school where we discovered a girl named Mansi who is enrolled in the 12th grade and comes from a very low-income household, GVT recently supplied sanitary napkins. She was overwhelmed when we taught her how to use the pads because she had grown up watching sanitary pads on television. When she spoke with the community facilitator, she expressed her gratitude for the complimentary pads we are giving them as well as the awareness campaign. Speaking with the teacher revealed that Mansi is actually from a very impoverished household and doesn't have a mother. She lacks even a decent place to live. GVT was moved by this since the child's participation in the awareness campaign about menstrual hygiene genuinely changed her outlook on life because she had never seen a pad before and had assumed she would never be able to use one.


1 June, 2022

Providing menstrual hygiene awareness

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

With the increase in inflation and poverty in the country the actual situation of the women is worse than ever. As the purchasing power of women is very low at the rural and tribal level sanitary pads are the last thing that the family considers to purchase. GVT having a production unit of sanitary pads produced more than 5 lakh pads in the previous year to meet the need of women to use sanitary pads. The intervention areas of the program are all the 8 talukas of Bharuch District. Around 400+ tribal and rural women were impacted through this project. These women were touched by the program as it provided menstrual hygiene awareness along with sanitary pads that will help them in their periods.


Challenges faced and next steps

Covid 19 made it very difficult for the rural and tribal women to get access to sanitary pads during the periods, as there was no availability of the same in the nearby stores and shops. At GVT, we are aiming to reach funding agencies and sponsors that resonate with our mission in Menstrual Hygiene Awareness, so that no girl in Rural and Tribal India is susceptible to diseases occurring from using dirty cloth instead of sanitary napkins. With the help of the district administration, we were able to reach to the rural parts of the district and made our supply possible for all. We are aiming at making this a viable program where the entire rural and tribal belt of the district can easily access sanitary napkins at reasonable prices.


Stories from the ground

GVT has recently donated sanitary napkins in a tribal residential school where we found a girl named Vaishali, Vaishali is studying in 9th Standard and comes from a very poor family. She had always seen sanitary pads on television and was overwhelmed during our menstrual hygiene awareness program on how to use the pads. She spoke to the community facilitator and said that she is very happy with the awareness program and also by the free pads that we are providing them. On talking to the teacher, it was known that Vaishali has no mother and actually comes from a very poor family. She doesn’t even have a proper home. This made GVT feel more for the child as this awareness activity on menstrual hygiene was actually a life changing experience for someone who has never seen a pad in life and who thought that she will never be able to use one.


30 September, 2021

Be a free soul when on periods

#2

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

As we know that when India implemented its first lockdown, sanitary pads was not considered an essential item. It was seen that Sanitary napkin was not available at the local stores and medical stores as the stock was exhausted. The production of the pads had stopped worldwide and the supply was majorly affected during the Covid times. Gram Vikas trust was on its toes when this was going on, we had distributed sanitary pads free of cost at village level to young girls and women. During the second lockdown as well GVT had made sufficient stock for the implantation of the program in case the production house had to shut down. GVT provided around 2000 sanitary pads to the rural and tribal women of Bharuch District who had no access to them. As an impact that was seen that women had a lot to worry about during the lockdown, at least they did not have to worry about their periods during the lockdown.


Challenges faced and next steps

The major issue that we faced during the lockdown was that of the transportation of the pads from the production unit to the beneficiary households. Covid 19 made it very difficult for the rural and tribal women to get access to sanitary pads during the periods, as there was no availability of the same in the nearby stores and shops. Although menstruation does not await any calamity or situation but is a regular process for adolescent girls. Firstly, to ease and aid this hurdle, immediate provisions for permission seeking for pad transportation was made through vans from liaison officers i.e. District Magistrate’s Office. At GVT, we are aiming to reach and penetrate our networks to funding agencies and sponsors that resonate with our mission in Menstrual Hygiene Awareness, so that no girl in Rural India is susceptible to diseases occurring from using dirty cloth instead of sanitary napkins.


Stories from the ground

We came across an adolescent girl named Anjali residing in the tribal belt of Gujarat. GVT was brought to the light of this helpless girl through a gynaecologist who examined the girl. It was very unfortunate to hear that the poor child was taken aback by her situation and was not even able to frame as to what exactly was the problem when asked by the doctor. Anjali was found to be using unhygienic ways during her menses due to which the skin got irritated resulting in a severe infection. After the incident got reported by the doctor, we helped her by providing her access to sanitary napkins we produce through our Asani Pad Production Unit. The story started on a tragic note but the results were favourable and we are happy to help for the noble cause.


26 March, 2021

Breaking the tabboo.

#1

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Sanitary napkins are generally unavailable or are expensive in rural areas of the country. Therefore, women resort to age-old alternatives like cloth, ashes, and husk sand during menstruation. A female from a rural region will almost never ask a male shopkeeper for a packet of sanitary napkin. Even in the urban areas, females are hesitant to purchase napkins. We often see that that women at medical store prefer a black plastic bag when it comes to purchase of pads.


To overcome these and to make women and girls use sanitary pads for better menstrual hygiene, Gram Vikas Trust in association with Desai foundation started Asani sanitary napkin - for women by women program. In Asani program high quality low cost sanitary napkin are prepared by a group of women who come from rural population and also sold by saleswomen of different villages at faliya level. We currently have over 150 saleswomen who are engaged in selling of the sanitary pad as livelihood option. With the help of SHG members, ASHA workers, local leaders or any other NGO in the village, GVT-DFT runs campaigns to create awareness among adolescent girls and women in rural pockets.


There is a small team which is involved in the production of sanitary napkins through a machine. The folding, packing, sanitizing is also carried on by rural women and through hand. And for the distribution of the same we have women who are earning livelihood and changing the lives of others by giving them awareness on hygiene and good health.



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