ZanaAfrica CEO Megan White is a founding member of the National Sanitary Towels Campaign Coordinating Committee (STCCC) in 2008 after having launched the National Sanitary Pads Campaign in her role as Incoming President, Rotary Club of Nairobi South, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Girl Child Network, and other non-profits in 2006. ZanaA seeks to facilitate the national coordination and has the approval of the STCCC to find the best solution to coordinate all schools, donors and distributors in ensuring accountability and transparency in sanitary pad distribution to school girls.
Lots of organizations and companies now know the importance of sanitary pads for school girls and women: Proctor & Gamble, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), and many more. We applaud this work; however, all that research started here, in Kenya, by the Girl Child Network (GCN) and the Ministry of Education. GCN and FAWE (Forum of African Women Educationalists) did the laudable undertaking of working with the Ministry of Education to produce the world’s first Gender Policy in Education, in 2007. Below is a bit of the history and the terms of reference for the STCCC.
Background: Globally, 150 million children currently enrolled in school may drop out before completing primary school – at least 100 million of these are girls. Menstruation for girls without access to sanitary pads and underpants is a major contributor to girls dropping out of school. Kenyan primary and secondary schools have at least 1.5 million menstruating girls, at least three-fifths, or 872,000 of whom miss four to five days of school per month due to a lack of funds to purchase sanitary pads and underwear combined with inadequate sanitary facilities at their schools (GCN and MOE, 2006). These 3.5 million lost learning days each month impede their ability to compete in the classroom, and leads to low self-esteem, higher drop-out rates resulting in lower future wages and diminished economic productivity, and makes them vulnerably to early marriage, pregnancy, and HIV.
History: Kenya made educational strides in 2003 when the Ministry of Education (MOE) launched Free Primary Education. In January 2008 Free Secondary Education was introduced. As a consequence of these two important initiatives, millions more children from the poorest areas of Kenya have joined school. One of the most bold and unique steps made by the MOE was the enactment of The Gender Policy in Education (GEP) in July 2007. This positions the MOE in the global lead for advancing the rights of girls in education. It is also an initiative that will address other barriers to accessing these rights, with insufficiency in family income and inadequate materials for sexual maturation at the forefront of these challenges.
After the Girl Child Network (GCN) partnered with the Rotary Club of Nairobi South (led by Incoming President Megan White, and Rotarian Naisiae Paloshe) and others to launch a sanitary pads campaign in February 2006, the issue of sanitary pads has gained international interest. GCN initially lobbied Proctor and Gamble, which made a three-year commitment to fund sanitary pads for 15,000 girls. This commitment was extended with a $50,000 in-kind donation. Rotary International and Lions International have partnered with a goal to raise sanitary pads to keep 160,000 girls in school per year. Other organizations have taken upon themselves the burden to source sanitary pads for schools they support; yet, some are delivering them without proper authorization and permission from the MoE.
Rationale: The Ministry of Education’s Gender Education Policy calls for partnership to cascade policy into implementation. The Gender and Education Policy 2.17, “to make the school learning environment gender responsive to sexual maturation,” supports three policy statements:
1. Develop and implement policies on institutional support to sexual maturation, including infrastructure and capacity building of shareholders;
2. Co-ordinate partnerships and facilitate stakeholder participation in the management of sexual maturation; and,
3. Develop modalities for provision of sanitation materials as part of learning materials.
The government has therefore made the major policy step to protect girls’ education through the provision of sanitary pads, and is calling on partners to help in the implementation of their policy, extending to the Kenya Education Sector Support Program (KESSP, the MOE’s Strategic Plan). A national coordinating committee was the next logical step to create the appropriate framework for implementation.
Formation: The Sanitary Towels Campaign Coordinating Committee was established on 14th May 2008 at the Kenya Institute of Education in the Stakeholders Meeting on Provision of Sanitary Towels to Girls In Schools, entitled “Gender and Education: Establishing the status of gender equity and equality in Primary Schools in Kenya” hosted by the Ministry of Education and the Girl Child Network.
Definition: The Sanitary Towels Campaign Coordinating Committee (STCCC) is a steering committee comprised of elected stakeholders representing a cross-section of society whose task, as it relates to Primary and Secondary school girls is:
- To standardize the methodology for national sanitary pad distribution and coordination in Kenya
- To identify implementing agencies and ensure their accountability
- To generate publicity and awareness for the purpose of more rapid and effective implementation
- To ensure research is ongoing to assess the tangible impact of the sanitary towels campaign on menstruating girls in Kenya
- To lobby for policies in the best interest of the girl child and the environment as it relates to sanitary towels
Name of Campaign: The name of the campaign is entitled SMILE: Sexual Maturation Inspiring Learning in Education.
Terms of Reference: Pursuant to the definite above-mentioned, the specific terms of reference for the STCCC are:
1. To standardize the methodology for national sanitary pad distribution and coordination in Kenya
1.1 To establish guidelines for sanitary pads distribution across the delivery chain: for manufacturers and suppliers; distributors; recipient schools; and, donors, as well as for the sanitary towel packaging itself and quantities of pads per monthly packet
1.2 To establish a standard best practice for distributors in the education given in sexual maturation and the use and disposal of sanitary pads and to ensure a certification programme to approve distributors
1.3 To establish methodologies of public-private sector partnership for the purpose of lower-cost, higher-impact operationalisation of distribution with a goal for sustainability
1.4 To facilitate the establishment of a database on donors, distributors, schools, manufacturers and importers and to ensure continuous review of its upkeep
1.5 To establish monitoring and evaluation tools and methodologies to ensure accountability of implementing agencies and schools
2. To ensure research is ongoing to assess the tangible impact of the sanitary towels campaign on menstruating girls in Kenya
2.1 To determine the types of impact to be monitored, the tools for assessment and methodologies for collecting such information
2.2 To ensure a continual needs assessment is done for menstruating girls in school regarding sanitary pads and education in sexual maturation
2.3 To conduct or appoint research to assess the current and future impact of distribution in short- and long-term studies
2.4 To disseminate results of research and monitoring to strengthen links between communities and policy-makers
2.5 To determine budgetary implications for national coverage of distribution
3. To lobby for policies in the best interest of the girl child and the environment as it relates to sanitary towels
3.1 To advocate the Ministry of Education provides sanitary pads as part of Free Primary Education and Free Secondary Education to ensure goals are met relating to Education For All and the Millennium Development Goals
3.2 To advocate Kenya Bureau of Standards adopt waste management as part of its standards for sanitary pads and diapers to ensure products and their packaging on the market are biodegradable and/or burn without toxic fumes
3.3 To advocate the above (4.2) for the upcoming East African Standard
3.4 To advocate with any other policy-making body for any policy changes that would be in the best interest of the girl child and the environment as it relates to sanitary towels
4. To generate publicity, awareness, and support for the purpose of more rapid and effective implementation
4.1 To determine and utilize best methodologies available to make the sanitary pads methodology and distribution easily accessible to citizens, communities, service providers, donors, mainstream faith-based organizations, and policy-makers (including but not limited to: publications; newsletters; magazines; governmental circulars; features on television, radio, and in newspapers; web presence; mobile phones; email)
4.2 To disseminate guidelines across delivery chain and to the general public
4.3 To raise awareness locally, nationally and internationally on the need for the SMILE campaign
4.4 To leverage awareness to raise funds directly and indirectly
4.5 To recruit, promote and collaborate with strategic partners for implementation
4.6 To advocate for girls’ groups that empower girls on the ground, such as but not limited to: Girl empowerment clubs; Girl Guides; Straight Talk; Tuseme, Peer Counsellors; Peer Educators Clubs
4.7 To conduct an annual stakeholders’ meeting as a method for coordination
