PROJECT PROPOSAL

Proposal for the Abugida Sanitary Towel Pliot Project

A Project to Supply Sanitary Towels and Underwear to Female Primary and Secondary School Students

Rotaract Club of Abugida

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Brief Overview of Project

Female students face great challenges in terms of hygiene and sanitation. Many schools have insufficient numbers of latrines, which are often poorly designed and maintained. For girls who are menstruating, these problems compound the difficulties posed by the inability to afford sanitary towels as well as cultural taboos around menstruation. As a result, many girls miss on average four days of school every month which is over a month in a year, meaning they fall behind in class and sometimes even drop out of school altogether. This is an added challenge to the already existing problems that lead to the high drop out rate of female students in primary and secondary schools.

Rotaract Club of Abugida, as part of family of Rotary internaltional is raising funds to provide sanitary pads to female students in Addis Ketema Sub-city, Addis Ababa. The club will distribute the pads to almost  1,000 girls in the primary and secondary schools, encompassing girls from 7^th to 12^th grade as its pilot project. The Club will organize trainings and question-and-answer sessions to give girls a forum to discuss related issues along with female teachers and other medical staff in the schools. This project will be on-going and is envisioned to address not only girls in Addis Ababa but also those in rural areas.

Overview of Rotary International

Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.

Rotaract Club of Abugida was established in 2002 G.C with 9 members as one of the first university based Rotaract Clubs in Ethiopia being sponsored by Entoto Rotary Club. There are now more than 50 members in the club.

With a vision for active, erudite and responsible professionals to become the future leaders of their community, our members design and organize programs that help empower the youth.

Rotaract Club of Abugida offers a broad range of humanitarian, intercultural, and educational programs and activities designed to advance Rotaracts’ ultimate goal of promoting international understanding, youth voluntarism and good will.

This sanitary towels project targets school-going girls from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds in their puberty.

Addis Ketema Sub-city: A Pilot Project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Target Population

Addis Ketema is one of the ten sub-cities in Addis Ababa.  The Rotaract Club of Abugida aims to provide sanitary pads and underwear to the female students in the primary and secondary schools of Addis Ketema Sub-city as its first phase of the project. The project plans to address a 1,000 girls in these schools and the project budget is estimated at ETB 30 for each girl coming to a total of ETB 30,000.

Project Objectives and Methods

1. The project aims to purchase sanitary pads that are produced in Ethiopia for all female primary and secondary school students in Addis Ketema Sub-city. These sanitary pads are made from natural and chemical free materials and are usable for about a year. Moreover, we will also provide the girls with Ethiopian made underwear, which is 100% cotton. We will supply a pack that containing 3 resuable sanitary pads and 3 pairs of underwear per girl.

Thus, the club will raise money to support the purchase of the necessary sanitary pads and underwear for the girls. In order to raise the fund for the project the club will use different approaches, one of which is “MERON IS RUNNING FOR PADS”, this entails creating awarness to the general public and also raise funds before and during the Ethiopian Great Run. Furthermore, the club will approach individual donors, organize fund raising events and use simple fund raising mechanisms such as pledge forms and promisory requests.

1. Abugida Club will distribute all pads and underwear to the primary and secondary schools in Addis Ketema Sub-city. Selected members of Abugida will deliver the pads and underwears to the girls at each school. These members will meet with the director of each school and together with school staff  will distribute the pads.

1. Abugida Club will organise training and question-and-answer sessions in each of the schools at the start, middle, and end of the project. At the start of the project, Abugida members, female teachers and nurses will hold a meeting together and then a forum with female students to discuss the sanitary pads and concurrent problems encountered by girls in the schools. Members of Abugida will build a relationship with the female teachers and nurses over the course of the project and involve them in organizing the trainings.  The club will also follow-up on the girls and involve their parents, by contacting the parent teacher associations

1. The club will initate the girls to have a club of their own, a dream club, where they can address the issue to the larger community and also develop self confidence among their peers. We expect that this will provide them a platform to shape their future and be a support group to discuss matter freely.

Long-term Goals:

The objectives above will, in the long-term, aim at achieving the following main goals:

Goal 1. :    Girls will not have to miss school simply because they are menstruating.

Goal 2. :    Girls will know that they can discuss problems connected to menstruation with health extension workers, other healthcare professionals who may be available, as well as teachers – male or female.

Goal 3. :    Abugida Club will learn from this pilot project and be able to plan and improve projects further to ensure female students do not miss school just because they are menstruating. The future projects will not only be to give sanitary pads to the girls in schools in Addis Ketema but also in other locations in and outside of Addis Ababa. The club will also be able to advise others on implementing similar projects.

Project Timeline

The project will commence on November 01, 2010 and the delivery of the sanitary pads will be completed by December 15, 2010. Female students in the primary and secondary schools of Addis Ketema Sub-city will at that time be provided with sanitary pads for a year.

At the same time, the Rotaract Club of Abugida along with female teachers and nurses will provide a training and question-and-answer session for female students.

Members of Abugida’s project team responsible for project monitoring and evaluation will visit the schools again in three months time, ensuring that the project is running smoothly and also to get feedback from the girls as well as the teachers and parents on the sanitary towels.

This project is in a pilot stage. The key to making it sustainable is having a strong relationship with the schools – especially the directors, the staff (especially any female staff, of which there are not many in schools above primary levels), and school nurses. Besides we will create a good contact with organizations that currently work on water, hygiene and sanitation in the area. Many schools have poorly sited and maintained latrines which along with cultural taboos surrounding menstruation, make it very difficult for girls to consistently attend schools. Supplying sanitary towels for a year is not going to have much of an impact unless it is paired with work to improve the broader sanitation issues at schools.

Method of Evaluation

The evaluation will use interviews with officials at the schools involved as well as teachers, with a special focus on female teachers. In addition, we will hold interviews and focus group discussions with female students. Due to the nature of the issues involved, all evaluation involving interviews with women and girls in the school will be carried out by female representatives of Abugida along with local health workers or nurses.

This part of the evaluation will be carried out at the start of the project and every three month by Abugida members. The female teachers and nurses in the schools will also be encouraged to keep track of the progress of the project as the year progresses.

Summative Evaluation:

The summative evaluation will follow a similar process as the formative evaluation but will be held at the conclusion of the year.

Project Contacts:

Biniam Tadele –             +251 911 158697

Meron Mekonnen-         +251 911 760549

Rediet Nuri-                  +251 911 124212

Website-                        www.4fewdays.wordpress.com

Account Information-    AWASH INTERNATIONAL BANK S.CO.

BOLE BRANCH

CUSTOMER’S ACCOUNT NO. 01320047479100/6437

SWIFT CODE:AWINETAAXXX

ADDIS ABABA

ETHIOPIA