Project name: Ecopads for Girls’ Education
Date project started: 2014
Partners: Kadama Widows Association (KWA)
Funder: USAID and KwaAfrica supporters
Location: Uganda

The Ecopads project is an effective way to keep girls in school and to make sure vulnerable women can increase and sustain their income.

Many girls and young women cannot afford sanitary products available commercially, and therefore often miss school periodically in order to avoid embarrassment and discomfort. The Ecopads project trains disadvantaged women to create hygienic and environmentally-friendly sanitary pads, enabling these women to learn new skills and to increase their income.

Providing these products to girls and young women means that they will not have to miss out on class around their period, thus reducing the likelihood that they will fall behind in their education and that their grades will suffer. Making available a hygienic sanitary product also means that girls and young women will not have to make use of unhealthy alternatives, such as banana fibres and rags

Kadama Widows and KwaAfrica want to scale up this project and to replicate it in other locations, as it has proved to be a smart, cheap and effective way to tackle a number of problems.