Mr James Cleverly, United Kingdom’s (UK) Foreign Secretary, has interacted with Inspire to Rise and Futurestars Charity on their joint project dubbed: “Periods of Change” being implemented in partnership with Trashy Bags.
This was when Mr Cleverly, who was in Ghana as part of a four-day tour across Africa, visited the Trashy Bags Africa Factory in Accra to tour the factory and engage officials and staff of the organisation on their work in Ghana.
Inspire to Rise, a non-profit organisation, which focuses on mentorship, menstruation hygiene education and advocacy, in collaboration with Futurestars Charity, an education-through-sports charity, and Trashy Bags Africa, a Ghana based commercial social enterprise, which upcycles used water sachets into sustainable products and bags, launched the Periods of Change project to provide menstrual health and hygiene education to girls in schools across the country.
The Periods of Change project seeks to promote greater awareness about menstruation by educating girls to better understand this biological process combined with the donation of sanitary items to girls in participating schools to reduce the stigma and ensure that they did not miss school during their monthly cycles.
The three organisations have teamed up to provide menstrual hygiene education to pupils in public schools across the country, coupled with the distribution of menstruation kits to girls in vulnerable communities to tackle one of the biggest challenges affecting girls and young women from deprived communities, lack of access to menstrual hygiene education and sanitary kits.
Miss Wendy Laryea, a multiple award-winning Journalist, Chevening Scholar and Founder of Inspire to Rise, interacting with Mr Cleverly, touched on the launch of the Periods of Change project and the first phase of the project, which had so far benefited close to 100 schoolgirls, who received menstruation kits from Inspire to Rise to reduce period poverty and period stigma.
In many developing countries, girls face significant challenges in managing their periods, including a lack of access to menstrual products, clean water, and adequate sanitation facilities, and this can lead to a range of negative consequences, including social stigma, missed school days, and even health problems.
Ghana’s 2021 Policy Brief on Menstrual Hygiene Management indicated that over seven million women and girls in Ghana menstruate whilst available data indicate that one out of five girls between the ages 15-19 feel excluded from school, social and home activities during their menstrual period.
Ms Laryea said, “Phase one of the Periods of Change project aims to provide free menstrual pads, panties, soap, and hand sanitizers to 600 schoolgirls in the recycled “Oblayoo Bags” produced by Trashy Bags.”
She also shared with the Foreign Secretary and his entourage the work Inspire to Rise was leading to drive advocacy for the elimination of period tax and efforts to ensure that vulnerable girls and young women living with disabilities were at the fore-front and centre of the work of her organisation.
She shared examples of how Inspire to Rise was driving inclusion through its work, including organising a menstrual health and hygiene advocacy event for pupils of the Demonstration School for the Deaf at Mampong- Akuapem in the Eastern Region, among others.
She said, “Inspire to Rise has also commenced a social media menstrual health educational campaign dubbed: “Period Health” to provide on-demand content to girls and young women and to engage decision-makers on the systems level, changes required to drive inclusion and reduce period poverty in Ghana. The campaign includes sign language interpretation to cater to audiences with hearing impairments.”
