 |
| MHM club members raising hands to respond to a question. |
<Activities conducted>
1. Project
midterm review meeting (Butambala and Mubende)
2. Radio
talk shows
3.
Spot Messages to
raise awareness on support for girls’ education and increase on reusable
sanitary pad users
4. School to School visits (Butambala and Wakiso)
5. Happy pad promotion centre
(Wakiso and Butambala)
1. Project
midterm review meeting
The meetings were conducted on the 20/03/2023 in Mubende and 24/03/2023 in Butambala respectively 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, member of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) and other key stakeholders like the District Education Officer, the Local Councill lll chairperson, Kibalinga Sub- County chief for Mubende and in Butambala the Probation officer, Sub County Administrative Secretary for Ngando, District Health Officer, DEO and the RDC.
The total number of participants during the meetings were; 41 for Mubende and 18 for Butambala.
The table below shows attendance of participants per
district
|
No |
District |
Number of male participants |
Female |
Total |
|
1 |
Mubende |
17 |
24 |
41 |
|
3 |
Butambala |
8 |
10 |
18 |
|
TOTAL |
25 |
34 |
59 |
|
Mubende
District
Butambala
2. Radio
talk shows
In Mubende, one talk show was conducted in a
duration of one hour at Luna FM Kibalinga on 23/3/2023. Community members were
reminded about the need to support adolescent girls especially those that
cannot afford sanitary material so that they can comfortably stay at school.
The major talking point was about the findings from the midterm review meeting
where the schools were appreciative of the project intervention but noted that
parents still need to be brought on board especially the male parents in order
to create a friendly MHM environment both at school and home.
In Butambala the radio talk show was conducted on 5th /03/2023 at
Voice of Butende.
The team leader discussed inclusion of people with disabilities and supporting them to properly manage their menstrual health. Focus was centered on guardians and care takers of girls with hearing, physical and intellectual impairments. Care takers were urged to look for information about menstruation and to kindly disseminate the same to the children with difficulties. Teachers in the community were advised to be accommodative for girls with learning difficulties as they train them about menstrual health management.
In Wakiso, a one hour talk show was conducted at Tiger FM on
the 24/03/2023 beginning from 7:00pm to 8:00pm in the evening hours. The
participants included the Executive Director, projects manager and the projects
officer where the community was taken through the project overview and the
achievements attained so far and the MHM needs for persons with disabilities.
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.
· 21 spot messages were aired at Voice of Kikambwe
whereas 11 spot messages were aired at Voice of Butende.
4. School to School
Visits
In Butambala
On 16th March 2023, the IT officer at the
promotion center invited all 10 target schools to Budinse Memorial School venue
for an exchange program aimed at assessing MHM knowledge, practices and impact
of the project in the respective beneficiary schools. Among the invited
participants were the head teachers, senior teachers and MHM club members of
each school.
The activity commenced on the 20th March
2023 for the entire day. 30 Random questions were prepared about menstruation
health management, sexuality reproductive health and gender. The quiz was
conducted in two phases (first session in the morning and the second session in
the afternoon).
Independent adjudicators were appointed to conduct a
quiz rewarding marks according to the responses from the participants. MHM club
members were grouped by school and questions asked randomly without prejudice.
Nawango primary school emerged winner of the day’s
contest with 84 points and Hajjati Kigongo Fatuma gave the school MHM club
twenty thousand shillings as a means of appreciation to the school.
The table below shows the performance of the
different schools;
|
Names |
1st phase |
2nd phase |
Total |
|
1.LWAMASAKA
UMEA 2.BULE
UMEA 3.BUTENDE UMEA 4.KITAGOBWA C/S 5.BUTALUNGA C/S 6.NKOKOMA C/S 7.KIWALA
UMEA 8.NAWANGO C/S 9.KAYENJE
C/S 10.NTOLOMWE UMEA |
31 27 30 21 10 34 26 36 |
44 40 32 40 40 36 44 48 56 44 |
75 67 62 61 50 70 70 84 56 44 |
Attendance per
school
In total, 124 students and 19 teachers attended the
school visit activity which was highlighted by the MHM knowledge assessment
competition. 36 male MHM members and 88 Female MHM members attended the
activity from the 10 target schools respectively. Apart from Kayenje primary
school which was represented by one senior woman teacher, the other 9 schools
were each represented by both a senior man and a senior woman where a total of
19 senior teachers attended the activity.
The table below shows the attendance of the students
|
Name of School |
Male |
Female |
TOTAL |
|
Kitagobwa
Primary School |
5 |
10 |
15 |
|
Butalunga
Primary School |
3 |
10 |
13 |
|
Kayenje
Primary school |
3 |
7 |
10 |
|
Nawango |
4 |
13 |
17 |
|
Butende |
3 |
11 |
14 |
|
Bule |
5 |
9 |
14 |
|
Kiwala |
4 |
11 |
15 |
|
Lwamasaka |
7 |
8 |
15 |
|
Ntolomwe |
2 |
9 |
11 |
|
TOTAL |
36 |
88 |
124 |
Findings from the
school visits
·
Self confidence
among MHM members has greatly improved. They are no longer shy to discuss
menstruation.
·
MHM club members
are more informed especially about menstruation and reproductive health.
·
Senior teachers
exhibited that they are still interested and find the project impactful in their schools.
·
Senior Teachers continue to participate as evident
from the child participation in the quiz
·
MHM clubs are still focused and continue to perform
their roles
Mobilization for school learning visits was conducted
Of all the project schools Jinja Karoli primary school seems to be most prepared when it comes to tailoring and would be good to host in the learning visits since they are incorporating vocational skilling in the primary curriculum. The school now has four sewing machines of which one was donated by GBN. They also have an overlock machine and a fulltime female tailor at school to attend to the leaners in their free time.
The project team visited the school to see what they
are up to and witnessed a full demonstration of how the pad is made in the
presence of MHM club members at the school. The session was led by the tailor
the head teacher. Accessing the machine is after learning the parts and their
functions. The learners are soon starting to use the machines for pad making.
5. Happy pad
promotion centre (Wakiso and Butambala)
In
Wakiso
Training of the 147 learners at the promotion center
is ongoing. A total of 80 pads were made. No sales were made.
Mask production and distribution
Total 900 masks were distributed to vulnerable populations
in Mubende and Wakiso during the Ebola period in 2022 November -2023 January.
These were a total of 600 units in Mubende where Ebola had hit hard on addition
to COVID-19. A total of 300 units were distributed in Wakiso to learners in the
project schools.
In Butambala
Training at the promotion center continued steadily
with several community members picking interest and visiting the center to
explore opportunities of enrolling for the training in reusable pad making. On
14th March 2023, a nurse came to the center and showed interest to
purchase reusable pads. The trainer promised to contact her as soon as the
products are ready for sale.
Number of trainees
|
Students |
Community members |
TOTAL |
||
|
Female |
Male |
Female |
Male |
|
|
7 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
Attendance
Records at The Happy Pad Promotion Center:
Attendance records for the second week of March are
shown below;
|
|
Female student |
Male student |
Female community member |
Male community member |
|
Number of trainees |
７ |
２ |
1 |
1 |
|
13th Mar |
６ |
２ |
0 |
1 |
|
14th Mar |
５ |
１ |
1 |
1 |
|
15th Mar |
6 |
２ |
1 |
1 |
|
16th Mar |
6 |
２ |
1 |
1 |
|
17th Mar |
7 |
２ |
1 |
1 |
|
18th Mar |
６ |
２ |
1 |
1 |
|
19th Mar |
０ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Pad Production
Ÿ Production of pads for sale is pending procurement
of a button pressing machine and overlock machine. Pads will be ready by end of
April 2023
Ÿ Packaging and pad specifications were submitted to
GBN and were approved for use moving forward.
Number of pads produced by the trainees:
|
DAYS |
NUMBER
OF PADS MADE |
|
Monday 13, March |
10 |
|
Tuesday 14, March |
20 |
|
Wednesday 15,
March |
15 |
|
Thursday 16,
March |
10 |
|
Friday 17, March |
5 |
|
TOTAL |
60 |
Challenges faced
at this Promotion center
·
Team cannot
produce happy pad for sale due to luck of the button pressing machine and an
overlock machine used for making a finished product.
·
Student trainees
can only attend over the weekend or in the evening after normal school hours
which limits them from attending on daily basis to enable them to easily learn
how to conduct the entire process of making reusable pads.
·
Although
community members often visit to inquire about the availability of training
slots for reusable sanitary pad making, their enrollment is still low.
·
Male trainees
are fewer than the target at a ratio of Girls to Boys standing at 7:2.
·
Shortage of enough materials for making the
re-usable pads.
Positive influence
of this month’s activities
· Listeners
appreciated SORAK for the project work which has greatly improved the standards
of the schools for Mubende.
Challenges
· It rained for more than an hour during the school
learning visit for Butambala.
· Most of the participants turned up late which made
the activities to begin late at Butambala during the school learning visit and
in Mubende during the midterm review meetings. This was partly due to rain and
the long distances where the participants come from.
·
Whereas the team encouraged the beneficiary schools
to attend the promotion center training for free and whereas the schools loved
the idea, the distance still challenges the participants in Butamabala
· Water continues to
hinder proper sanitation especially in Ntolomwe, Bule, Kiwala and Kitagobwa
primary schools in Butambala and Kiyita and Dyangoma Primary schools in Mubende
who still must fetch water from very distant community wells especially during
the dry seasons.
Lessons Learnt
· Assessment
of MHM club members at the school visit represented the situation in their
respective schools. A more practical approach is recommended for the next visit
especially pad making.
· From
the assessment still it was observed that; the pupils have learnt how to make
pads, how to advise others when they are experiencing their menstruation
periods. They learnt how to manage personal hygiene and sanitation better than
they used to and are no longer fearing when they are in menstruation ie they
know that its normal to menstruate.
· District
key stakeholders showed more support and positivity about the subjects of
menstruation health management in the target schools, gender and reproductive
health education.
· There
is positive change in attitude towards MHM issues in the project schools for
Mubende and Wakiso.
Recommendations
· More
marketing of pads needed and the use of social media platforms may come in
handy (Wakiso)
· Community
sensitization about issues of MHM should be conducted from time to time .
· Head
teachers, chairpersons school management and P.T.A to mobilize for funds from
parents such that schools buy materials for pad making. (Mubende)
·
Incorporate music when passing on
information about MHM since many of the parents love music dance and drama.
(Mubende)
