Project Unnati

Sustainable Menstruation options by the women for the women

Project Unnati is an initiative of Anahat For Change Foundation aimed at reducing marginalization of women and girls by enabling the community with knowledge, skills and capacity development. The project works towards impacting lives of underprivileged women who are currently being equipped with skills and knowledge to make sustainable reusable cloth pads and other menstrual care products in order to bridge the gap in the supply chain of subsidized sanitary products provided by the Government in the target areas. Project Unnati not just improves the socio economic conditions of the beneficiaries but also provides them the opportunity to spread knowledge in their community regarding sustainable menstruation and its advantages.

What began with a few workshops to educate women from rural backgrounds about the importance of menstrual hygiene and the value of using sustainable options, is now a full-fledged project with more than 100 women a part of it.  These women who join our livelihood programme have to be part of a 4 days training workshop, where they are guided about menstruation health and hygiene and are also told about how disposal of pads can cause harm to the environment, as rural areas have no specific system for disposal. Many women can’t afford pads and this leads to many health issues. Second day onwards, women are taken to stitching centres where they learn the skills and techniques to make cloth pads. As a result, they are empowered financially and also contribute to the environment in their own way. Project Unnati is currently running in three locations of West Bengal- South 24 Paraganas, Nadia and Darjeeling dist.

Moments from Project Unnati