The period empowerment project
#RESPECT #CARE
03/03/2022
This is a CAS project at JESS (Jumeirah English Speaking School). CAS stands for Creative, Active & Service and is a core element of the IB Diploma. Students must devise a project where they give back to the wider community.
The CAS Coordinator’s role is to oversee projects, provide direction and ensure success. Our biggest CAS project is ‘The Period Empowerment Project’ where students aim to tackle period poverty and is led by a team of 10 students (4 males and 6 females) overseen by Louisa McGauley (Secondary Librarian) and Julia Richardson (CAS Coordinator).
“Period poverty is a stigma that affects 500 million women worldwide where 20% of school days in Sub Saharan Africa are missed by girls too ashamed to go to school because they have their periods and 25 % of girls in rural Africa do not use any menstrual products.”
The Period Empowerment Project aims to address this taboo which in many parts of the world contributes to gender inequality. A lack of access to sanitary products, causes millions of girls and women to miss school and work. This project’s short-term aims are to make and deliver over 8500 sustainable sanitary towels to teenage girls who live in orphanages in Zambia, thus enabling them to attend school and achieve as well as their male counterparts. Moreover, the long-term aims are to empower women by creating employment opportunities by providing them with materials and equipment sourced from rural Africa, so they can earn a living from making these towels. In addition to this, we also aim to educate females on how to use the towels and educate younger students at JESS to be aware of the stigma, therefore breaking down the taboo. We believe that education is key to effectively addressing poverty.
The project began three years ago by a team of three students who made and delivered 2500 towels to Kenya. It has now evolved into a dynamic team of 10 students who have devised short and long terms aims so this project becomes a legacy project at JESS, and reach way beyond the provision of sanitary wear but also to promote gender equality and employment opportunities to women in rural Africa. The team are travelling to Zambia on the 1st – 8th of May 2022 to deliver sanitary towels to several organisations that we have made connections with. We will be transported on the ground with the help and protection of The Lions Association and International Humanitarian City (Dubai). The students themselves will hand make 2500 sustainable towels and finance an extra 6000 to be outsourced to local tailors. Upscaling the production means that the project reaches a far greater number of females and delivers more of a significant impact. We are aiming to raise AED30,000 to finance the outsourcing of 6000 towels and purchasing sewing machines and materials sourced in Zambia. Organizations who are willing to support this project are now able to do so as we have official fundraising approval from the Department for Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities, using the platform Yalla Give under licence number 4527.
We are only able to achieve the vision of upscaling due to our private sector support that has developed along the course in numerous ways. Towels are donated by Madinat Jumeriah Group, Linen Obsession provided their expertise in creating an innovative product that allows females to clean the towels, so they are more hygienic. Sewing machines have been donated from Brother, storage space at the International Humanitarian City, and more recently financial support from Clyde & Co using the Yalla Give platform. Moreover, Augusto Di Pietro (International Representative of The Lions Association) engineers this project into ensuring we deliver significant long-term impact. The student team host two weekly clubs to younger years who help make the sustainable towels for their Duke of Edinburgh Award and discuss menstruation as education is key to effectively address period poverty. In addition to this, parents attend a weekly sewing morning where they also kindly offer their efforts and liaise with the leaders of this project. This project reflects the efforts of the school and wider community, and its legacy continues each year where we aim to make an impact on female empowerment and boost gender equity.
