Areas of Focus: Basic education and literacy, Community economic development
THE NEED When girls reach puberty, they often drop out of school because they have no access to menstrual hygiene products. This leads to early marriage, childbearing at an early age, and a lack of financial independence. Their family suffers. The entire community suffers.
THE HOW: This grant will provide ten thousand ($5.50 ea.) of FREE reusable, washable menstrual kits (3 pads per kit) to school girls in Uganda that can be worn even without underwear. Each kit includes a small waterproof bag to wash the pads with a cup of precious water. The pads unfold to squares, so they can be dried in the sterilizing sun without embarrassment. They will be produced in Uganda, thus supporting employment and the local economy. For sustainability, this grant provides sewing machines and related equipment for creating an additional sewing guild.
SPENDING: $55,000 for MoonCatcher kits (70% materials, 30% labor); $7,000 for teaching the health curriculum, $7,000 (8.5%) for management, $7,000 sewing machines & tools, $7,000 contingency (to purchase extra kits if no contingency arises.)
INVOLVEMENT. Rotarians will distribute the MoonCatchers and teach the accompanying health curriculum. The new sewing guild will be supported by The Rotary Club of Namugongo.
TIMELINE: Start Dec 2019. Visit the hundreds of participating schools annually for 3 years.
Note: as of July 1, 2015 there is a 5% additional support fee for cash contributions. This fee does not appear in the financials above because it does not apply if the funds are sent directly to the project account (without going through TRF, and therefore without Paul Harris credit). Clubs sending their cash contribution to TRF must be aware they will have to send an additional 5%.