 |
| Learners at Kayenje P/S after a pad making demo |
<Activities conducted>
1. Project
midterm review meeting for Wakiso
2. Radio
talk shows (Mubende, Wakiso)
3. Spot Messages to raise awareness on support for girls’
education and increase on reusable sanitary pad users
4. School monitoring visits
(Mubende and Wakiso and Butambala)
5. School to school MHM club
learning visits (Mubende and Wakiso)
6. Happy pad promotion centre
(Wakiso and Butambala)
7. 3rd MHM Online
discussion
1. Project
midterm review meeting
The
meeting was conducted on the 3/April/2023 in Wakiso district with the objective
of assessing the progress of project activities to generate lessons that will
guide decision making during the implementation of the remaining project
activities. The participants included; the Head teachers, Senior teachers.
Members of the School Management Committee, representative of the MHM club and
other key stakeholders like the Municipal Education Officer making a total of 43 participants.
Important findings included the following among
others;
-It is prudent for schools to
invite SORAK during the parents’ meetings in order to sensitize them about
issues of MHM with focus on male involvement in order for them to be supportive
to the girls during menstruation. This is paramount because most of the male
parents are not supportive.
-Schools to always first of all
take learners through the theory of pad making and there after introduce them
to the practical sessions of pad making using the machine by doing so the
process of pad making will be simplified.
-Students that are competing for
the different posts at the schools should be encouraged to include how they are
going to manage MHM issues in their manifestos at school in order to ensure the
continuity of the project work. This approach has not been used before but it
is feasible for the continuity of the project interventions in the project
schools.
-Schools to come up with a strategy
of improvising incinerators in order to ensure effective disposal of pads to
ensure a friendly MHM environment moving forward. This is because most of the
schools like Kitanda, Buwambo among others have poor disposal mechanisms where
the disposable pads are disposed in the pit latrines.
The table below
shows the attendance of participants
|
Students |
SMC/PTA |
Municipality leaders |
Teachers |
Total |
|
3 |
9 |
1 |
30 |
43 |
2. Radio
talk shows (Mubende, Wakiso and Butanbala)
In Mubende, the talk show
was conducted in a duration of one hour at Luna FM located in Kibalinga sub
county on the .3/April/2023 Community members were reminded about the need to
support adolescent girls not forgetting male involvement in MHM issues with
emphasis on those that cannot afford sanitary material so that they can
comfortably stay at school. The major talking points were about the
preparations for the MHM club learning visit where the schools were mobilized
to turn up for the activity.
In Wakiso, a one hour talk show was conducted at Voice of
Kiryagonja on the 6/April/2023 beginning from 7:00pm to 8:00pm in the evening.
The participants included the Executive Director, projects manager and the
Secretary for women Kiryagonja where the community was taken through the
project overview and the achievements attained so far. Emphasis was put on the
proper disposal of material used during menstruation and the availability of
reusable sanitary pads at the Happy pad promotion centre. The secretary for
women informed listeners about the responsibility of parents towards their
children with emphasis on a girl child. Parents were encouraged to take their
children to school.
In Butambala, a 1-hour
radio talk show was conducted on 28th/ Apr/ 2023 at Voice of Butende
emphasizing inclusion of girls with different disabilities in all MHM and SRH
activities as well as promoting equality. The community were encouraged to pay
more attention to this group of children so as to meet their menstrual and
reproductive health needs. Parents and teachers were encouraged to practice
patience with children with disabilities when extending menstrual health
services and information. Community was encouraged to continuously engage boys
and male adults in order to reduce on the stigma and discrimination against
menstruating girls. Community schools outside the target schools were called
upon to prioritize menstruation hygiene. The team led by the team
leader also reminded the community about the Happy Pad Promotion center and
encouraged them to enrol for training program
3. Spot Messages to raise awareness on support for girls’
education and increase on reusable sanitary pad users
Spot
messages about Menstrual Hygiene Management, girls’ education and reusable
sanitary pad are aired as follows;
·
Mubende: via Luna FM 6 times a day.
·
Wakiso: via Voice of Kiryagonja 10 times a
day.
·
Butambala: via
Voice of Butende 21 times and via Voice of Kikambwe 22 times.
4. School monitoring visits
(Mubende and Wakiso and Butambala)
The project schools in all the three districts were visited in order to track the progress of project activities to generate lessons and corrective action where need be. In addition, to identifying the best performing schools which are eligible for benchmarking in order to allow for identification of improved methods for implementing the project activities as below;
Mubende
The visits were
conducted on the 11and
12/April/2023 where the project team
used the monitoring tool to assess the progress of the project activities. The key findings were;
·
Schools have
limited time for training learners reusable sanitary pad making but have
resorted to scheduling sessions over the weekends and during holidays to enable
a bigger number of students to acquire the skill.
·
In most of the
schools like Dyangoma, Gwanika and Katega, boys are more active when it comes
to making reusable sanitary pads.
·
Club members in
most of the schools would wish to learn other skills using the sewing machine
apart from making reusable sanitary pads.
·
Club members are
now better equipped with knowledge about MHM and are very active when it comes
to supporting others with menstrual emergencies at school.
·
Learners
have acquired skills in making reusable sanitary pads
Re-usable
pad making
Wakiso
Monitoring was
conducted for three days including 14,15 and 17/Apr/2023 by the project officer
and the following were the key findings;
· The
children have improved a lot when it comes to MHM issues. “I have fewer complaints
now and I think that it’s because the students help each other during menstrual
emergencies or they learn from the lessons we teach them.” said the Senior lady
Kanyange mixed P/S.
· Most of
the parents are not cooperative regarding MHM issues where a girl can be given
an emergency pad while at school and the same person comes back the following
day for another pad due to the fact that some parents do not provide pads to
the children while at home.
· In some
schools like Kirolo UMEA, boys are not much interested in sanitary pad making
but the teachers try to bring them on board.
· Pad
making has become easy for learners as they are currently using machines unlike
before when they used hands and it could take them a lot of time. However,
since its one machine in most of the schools, at times girls dominate the
machines. A request was made for the provision of a second machine which can be
used by boys.
·
The challenges
of scarcity of pad making materials, water and parents not being cooperative
are still in place.
·
Transfers of
teachers is still going on for example the head teacher of Kitungwa C/U left
for another school and the senior man as well. The new head teacher will be
available next term.
·
Learners who
belong to the MHM club still join other different schools which creates a gap
but they are replaced by others in order to maintain the MHM club activities.
·
Generally,
production of pads depends on the availability of materials otherwise there is
no specific number of pads made per month.
Butambala
School monitoring was conducted on 29/
Apr/ 2023 spearheaded by the team leader and the IT personnel. The team moved
with tailor (trainer at promotion center) to monitor pad making in the schools.
The monitoring tool was used in each of the 10 schools monitored and below were
the key findings.
· Teacher
participation and MHM club involvement in activities continues to blossom.
· Boys no
longer take menstruation as an abnormality. “Surprisingly my girls can openly
talk about menstruation even in the presence of boys. Boys do not laugh as they
used to,” said the head teacher at Bule primary school
· In most
schools, senior teachers have become more free and friendly to the adolescent
girls who now feel free to open up.
· Privacy of Washrooms/Changing rooms: All
washrooms had doors still intact with locks and no dents were seen in the
walls. 5 schools i.e Butaalunga, Nawango, Bule,Kitagobwa and Nkokoma had no
roofs
· Hygiene of washroom facilities:
General hygiene has improved in all the beneficiary schools monitored. All
school washrooms were found clean, and well-drained with floors still cemented.
3 schools (Ntolomwe, Bule and Kitagobwa) still struggle with water availability
as their water sources are very far from the school. However, during this rainy
season, the situation has been less challenging.
· Sanitary Materials used in washrooms: All
washrooms had soap for hand washing. 7 out of 10 schools had emergency pads in
the washrooms. Bule, Ntolomwe and Kayenje primary schools had no emergency
pads. 3 schools i.e Kayenje, Ntolomwe and Lwamasaka had changing uniforms.
· MHM clubs: these were still
functional in all 10 schools. Most active in Bule primary school, Nkokoma,
Ntolomwe, Kayenje and Lwamasaka respectively. The club members who had left for
secondary school during the last monitoring visit were replaced through
election of new members by the senior teachers. MHM club members understand
their roles better than the previous visit.
· 3
schools (Kitagobwa, Nawango and Butalunga) who received electric sewing
machines were challenged by absence of power at the school and couldn’t produce
pads. They requested the team to replace the machines with manual machines.
· 7 Schools stated challenge of insufficient training material and the team advised them to use any available material locally to cut the costs.
5.
School to school MHM
club learning visits (Mubende
and Wakiso)
This was done in Wakiso and Mubende to benchmark and come up with improved methods and ideas of implementing project activities in the respective project schools as elaborated below;
Mubende
On 20 /Apr/ 2023 the different project schools including; St Mary’s Kiyita, Kasasa and Kabowa primary schools converged at Gwanika Primary school. The schools were represented by the Senior teachers and a minimum of three MHM club members including the President/Chair persons, their assistants and other members. The total number of participants included 29 i.e. 14 female students,7 male students, 6 female teachers and 2 male teachers. Worth noting is that Gwanika Primary School was selected to host the learning visit because their performance regarding implementation of the project activities is commendable.
The activity was conducted in a duration of five hours in a participatory manner guided by the day’s program which included; an opening prayer from a volunteer, welcoming remarks from the Head teacher Gwanika Primary School, objective of the learning visit by the projects manager, experience sharing from the different senior teachers, learning questions to the MHM club members by the project officer, experience sharing from Gwanika Primary School and way forward as below;
Attendance of participants
|
Students |
Female
teachers |
Male
teachers |
Total |
|
21 |
6 |
2 |
29 |
Schools were able to learn from one
another and promised to utilize the knowledge acquired as they go back. “I have
today learnt to improvise when it comes to material used for making pads and
this will help us to deal with scarcity of such materials.” Said the Senior
Woman Teacher St Mary’s Kiyita.
Wakiso
Schools Learning visit
On 14/Apr/2023 Maganjo UMEA and Kanyange Mixed participated in the learning visit at Jinja Kalori Primary School making a total of 43 participants including three senior teachers and 40 learners (34 girls and 6 boys).
The session was guided by experience sharing based on the learning questions in line with MHM. For example, the causes of menstruation, challenges faced during menstruation, how to overcome the challenges among others.
The following were the key
findings;
· Boys
were not aware of what girls go through during menstruation like severe
stomachs and it was an opportunity for them to
learn. This is as a result of experience sharing by the girls about the
challenges they face during menstruation.
· Most of
the girls did not know how to overcome the challenges faced during menstruation
like severe stomachache, headache, laziness among other challenges and the
session was an eye opener in that regard.
· How to
wash a re-usable sanitary pad (this girl used to keep it and the stain dries up
but was advised to soak it immediately after use). This is one of the girls at
Kanyange Girls P/S who had just started experiencing her periods.
· Learners
got knowledge on how best to clean the pad because some of them ignored the
issue of soaking before washing.
· MHM club members are more informed especially about menstruation and reproductive health.
6.
Happy pad promotion centre (Wakiso and Butambala)
Wakiso
Training of the 147 learners at the promotion center is ongoing. A total of 50 pads were made and 60 sold
There were 8 female outsiders (None students) who attended the training for the month.
<Butambala>
Pad Production by
trainees
15 trainees enrolled to date produced 97 pads in the three weeks of April
The team
identified that the first customers should be the students in the 10 target
schools in Butambala and that as a marketing tool, we need to introduce the
actual product for them to use. This will be done at a free cost by donating
the sample pads as was done during the monitoring visit.
Once these
students appreciate the pad product, they become advertisers and brand
ambassadors to attract new buyers.
This brand awareness will take two months on a scheduled plan under development by the team leader.
7. ３rd MHM Online Discussion
A 2 hours online discussion was conducted on 28/ Apr/ 2023 under the theme ‘Inclusion of PWDs in MHM programing’ The rationale was to understand the challenges faced by girls with disabilities in the management of their menstruation and reproductive health, the possible solutions and innovations to have their needs addressed.
19 participants attended the zoom discussion that was coordinated by SORAK, VOTU and two guest speakers Fatnah Nantumbwe from Operation One Project Butambala and Sandra Balyejusa a person with disability from Iganga.
Participants
reacted and recommended as follows;
· The
project team should consider disability in the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of interventions.
· MHM and
SRH information should be designed in adequate form depending on the different
disabilities. This could be tactical tools or more audio - visual materials
with sign language or shorter session
· Washroom
facilities should be designed to favor and include persons with disabilities.
· Similar
trainings as the Teacher’s Trainings should be done for the care takers of PWDs
· Mr.
Kato from the Ministry of Health advised the team to always work and seek
guidance from the structures of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of
Health
Positive
influences of all activities
· Participants
were eager to learn from one another and were able to share their views in a
participatory manner during the school learning visits. (Wakiso and Mubende)
· The
host schools for both Wakiso and Mubende were well prepared to take others
through their experience in implementing the project activities where they had
prepared a report which was shared with participants during the meeting for
Mubende.
· Listeners
to the radio talk shows appreciated SORAK for the project work which has
greatly improved the standards of the schools for Mubende.
· In Wakiso,
all the ten project schools were represented and the participants during the
midterm review meeting were eager to share their views regarding the progress
of the project in a participatory manner
· During
the radio talk show at Voice of Kiryagoja in Wakiso district, the Secretary for
women was creating awareness about proper parenting with emphasis put on the
girl child which was coherent with our topic of MHM, she was impresses and
promised to work hand in hand with the project team where need may arise.
· Voice
of Butende advised the team to create various spot messages with varying
information for the community to consume. (Butambala)
· General
hygiene in the washrooms has greatly improved (Butambala)
· The
online discussion on PWDs was very informative with appreciation from
participants.
Challenges
· Time
management was poor as the meeting started late due to the fact that some
participants came late but project team waited for them to arrive to start off
the mid- term review meeting in Wakiso and the MHM club learning visit in
Mubende.
· Not all
the MHM club members attended the meeting due to the fact they were preparing
for end of term exams in Mubende.
· Language
barriers as many of the learners would prefer using their local languages to
explain themselves well at Wakiso and Mubende during the MHM club learning
visits.
· Absenteeism
at the promotion center due to the rainy season. (Butambala)
· Invitation
to the online discussion was restricted to only members who registered via a
google form hence less attendance.
· Insufficient
training materials used for pad making at the schools.
Lessons Learnt
· There
is positive change in attitude towards MHM issues in the project schools for
Mubende and Wakiso.
· When
schools come together and share ideas about their experiences regarding project
implementation, workable solutions to problems can be identified.
· It was
clear from the students in Mubende that parents are not friendly to their
children and they end up sharing their challenges regarding menstruation with
their fellow learners or their neighbors back home.
· Girls
are freer to talk about menstruation without fear. (Butambala)
· Inclusion
of all groups of menstruating adults when planning MHM interventions.
Recommendations
· Schools
to utilize the parents’ meetings to identify professional tailors and should
consider them as the first priority when it comes to making uniforms in order
to cater their salary. (Mubende)
· The
Senior Lady for Kiyita to facilitate two students to attend training sessions
at Gwanika Primary School over the weekend in order for them to strengthen
their skills in pad making and how to work on the machine in case of any
mechanical challenges. (Mubende)
· Schools
to utilize weekends for training in pad making as there is always limited time
for training learners during week days. (Mubende)
· Schools
to improvise material used for making pads in order to ensure that pads are
available at school. (Butambala, Mubende and Wakiso)
· Participants
to come up with action plans on how they are going to improve the
implementation of project work in their respective schools (School to school
MHM club learning visits)
· More
counseling and guidance needed for the learners to cope with usual challenges
of puberty. For example, lack of money for buying material used during
menstruation
· Schools
should think about incorporating vocational skilling as a way to go for the
next generation of learners so as to address the demands of the new secondary
school curriculum.
