EMPOWERING ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN NEPAL

by World Vision Singapore

“My parents kept me in a room for seven days when I got my first period. I was not allowed to step out of the room nor prepare my own food. Because of that, I missed all my classes.  Now, I sleep in the cowshed during my menstruating days,” - Kamana*, 16 years old

In Nepal, it is traditionally believed that women and adolescent girls are temporarily impure and unclean during their time of month. During this time, they are bound by silence as well as shame and face multiple restrictions on who they can meet, where they can go and what they can do.  While the practice has been legally banned since 2005, the practice of Chaupadi in Western Nepal still persists and is currently being addressed country wide by World Vision through the building of female toilets, provision of sanitary napkins and holistic menstrual hygiene education. 

Most girls and women cannot afford, neither do they have access to sanitary pads, which means that when they get their period, they have to turn to unhygienic alternatives like dirty rags, dry leaves and sometimes even ashes. Each time their period comes, not only do the girls have to miss school but they also face the risk of infection. As more classes are missed, they fall behind in their studies and many often end up dropping out of school completely.

To help keep adolescent girls in schools so they have a chance to complete their education, you can help:

• Provide menstrual health starter kits for girls


• Provide female friendly rest areas in schools


• Provide improved Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools


• Provide sanitary pad vending machines in selected schools


• Establish local funding mechanism to help pay for the replenishment of sanitary pads in the pending machine


• Engaging relevant authorities to help debunk menstrual myths and the taboos in the community

Your generous donation creates a kind act with a big impact, sending tangible support to the most vulnerable adolescent girls in Nepal to help keep them in school.                                        

• $60 to help 1 adolescent girl with a menstrual health kit
  
  
  
  • Underwear
  
  
  • Soap
  
  
  • Sanitary Pads
  
  
  • Educational material on menstruation
  
  
  • Torch light
  
  
  • Towel
  
  
  
  

• $250 to provide 4 girls with menstrual health kits and to educate her community on taboos and menstrual myths

• $1200
  
  
  
  • A share of constructing female toilets to enable 1350 girls to attend schools while menstruating
  
  
  • Menstrual Health kits
  
  
  • Holistic education for the community
  
  
  
  

*name changed to protect her identity