A Project aimed at disseminating awareness on scientific menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and providing sanitary pad vending machines and sanitary pad incinerating machines for empowerment of school girls in Darrang district of Assam. The objective of the project is to provide support to girl students of 3 different schools in Darrang district of Assam on a pilot basis. The 3 schools are: Bholanath M.E. School, Pub Mangaldai High School and Kathpori Sankardev M.E. School. Under the project apart from imparting adequate awareness on scientific menstrual hygiene management knowledge, material support in the form of sanitary napkin vending machines and sanitary pad incinerators will be extended so that girl students do not face problems during their menstrual periods. Special counselling team composed of teachers and senior students will be formed under the supervision and guidance of the project coordinator who will impart awareness and knowledge to the students about MHM. All 3 schools have granted permission to set up sanitary vending machines and to carry out menstrual hygiene awareness activities.

Project Duration

The duration of the project is 12 months from the date of release of the first instalment.

Monitoring of the Project

The Project was monitored from time to time through field visits by officials from ONGC for judicious implementation of the project. The agency was to provide a quarterly progress report of the Project with details of beneficiaries and photographs. ONGC may also engage a third party for monitoring the project.

Project Activities

• Transportation of prefabricated toilets blocks
• Installation of toilets blocks
• Demonstration and FAQ session regarding use of menstrual hygiene facilities within the toilet unit, like the sanitary napkin dispensation machine and the incinerator for the same
• Counselling and awareness program held at all schools regarding menstrual hygiene for girl students by Jonali Deka, (Double M.A. in Psychology and Rural Development from Gauhati University). She is an Adolescent Reproductive Sexual Health Counselor (ARSH) to school-going children on mental health and physical health.
• Handing over of toilets blocks to school authorities

Measurable outcome

The proposed program will focus on the capacity building of 381 adolescent girl students to demystify taboos surrounding menstruation, orienting them to manage the menstrual process, provide access to sanitary napkins and disposal of soiled ones. The expected outcomes of the proposed pilot based project are: -

• More girls will be encouraged to give up the habit of skipping school during menstruation days for lack of proper toilet facilities.
• Knowledge on operational maintenance of urinals, toilets and methods of disposing of used sanitary pads in a scientific manner will empower the girls and bring in confidence among them. This will prevent improper disposal of used sanitary pads which pose a grave danger to the environment.

Benefit to Society

The project has created awareness on women menstrual hygiene and has helped in addressing menstrual problems among the adolescent girls in rural schools of Assam. The project has addressed sanitation and hygiene issues among girls in Darrang district of Assam.