Kakamega Project – by Hital Patel

Kakamega is a county that is located in the west of Kenya, which lies about 30km north of the equator. It is often referred to as the county that is situated in the former Western Province. Kakamega county has 12 constituencies and is a neighbor to Vihiga County, Siaya County, and Bungoma County.

According to the 2019 census, Kakamega county had a population of 1,867,579, out of which 897,133 consist of males and 970,406 are females. This implies that the ratio of males to females in Kakamega county is 1:1.08. The county is said to have a high fertility rate which leads to the county having a child-rich population. The backbone of the individuals within the county tends to be Agriculture as it often contributes to about 65% of the country’s total earnings. Farmers often deal with the trading of crops like maize, sorghum, finger millet, beans, and rice.

In addition to that, it is stated that the country has a poverty rate of 53% which eventually implies that the majority of their population lives in informal settlements and often faces challenges when it comes to accessing essentials like sanitary products. When it comes to menstruation, the majority of school-going girls face challenges when it comes to their monthly cycle since they do not have access to sanitary towels. 95% of the girls from underprivileged backgrounds tend to miss school during their monthly cycle, thus each month 4-7 days a girl would be away from school, sometimes the girls are forced to drop out of school and get married off at an early age. Also, some are forced to participate in sexual activities so they can get money to buy sanitary.

Other than that, there also tends to be a lack of menstrual health education that the women and girls within the county hold. They have minimal knowledge on matters relating to menstruation and this often leads to severe negative effects on their health.

Therefore, to tackle these challenges that the girls and women face we as a foundation will provide reusable sanitary pads to the women and school-going girls which would provide a solution to their monthly cycle for about 2 years, as well as educate them on menstrual health management.

This project targets 690 girls in the 5 different schools in Kakamega.

Pads distribution: 690 kits

Criteria

• Girls missing school
• School dropout
• The stigma associated with menstruation
• Lack of proper sanitization and access to pads.
• Sexual exploitation in exchange for pads
• Teen pregnancy
• Early marriages

Goals/ Objectives

• Providing reusable sanitary pads to keep the girls in school.
• Train a partner from the local community on menstrual health and hygiene to sustain the program
• Reduce early marriages among teenagers
• Stop sexual exploitation to raise money for basic sanitary pads needs
• Educate the local community on menstruation so they understand its essence and break the stigma.

Target Timeline – 27/06/22 – 29/06/22

Stakeholders -Together For Better

Project Budget

Pads: Ksh 483,000 [690 x 800( per pad kit it’s Ksh 800)]

Transportation: Ksh 120,000

Accommodation: Ksh 6,000 per day

Potential Risks Projected:

• Covid factors
• Tackling community stigma on menstruation
• Remoteness
• Resistance from the locals

Potential Opportunities:

• Finding potential future distributions (Leaders of women groups in the area)
• Visitation for high schools to understand their culture, and distribute pad kits
• Expanding the brand into new areas considered Up Country
• Possibility of hosting a workshop on how to stitch our reusable sanitary pads.
• Networking

Social media handles:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/togetherforbetterfoundation/mycompany/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForBetterKE/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togetherforbetterfoundation/?hl=en