Training on Menstrual Health and Hygiene and how to make reusable menstrual pads

This project was funded by the Australian Direct Aid Programme in the sum of WST$10,000. In collaboration with the National University of Samoa School of Nursing, Brown Girl Woke delivered workshops to women and girls in one community in Upolu on menstrual health and hygiene, distributed reusable menstrual pads and followed up with training on how to make reusable menstrual pads.

Follow up was also conducted to understand the experiences of the women and girls who used them. The project experienced significant challenges in adhering to the schedule of delivery outlined in the submitted proposal. These challenges were due to the COVID -19 lockdown/State of Emergency and the number of obligations the participants had to other Government Ministries’ follow up activities. When the lockdown was lifted the initial workshops were scheduled with the group of 50 broken into two sessions of 25 participants.

The follow up session which was to take place approximately 6 week later was delayed due to conflicting schedules with the women in the village. The village is involved in several other ministry run activities.

Ultimately the follow up session was held in July with less than the number of participants from the first sessions attending. This affected the completion of the follow up surveys (used in the pre and post analysis of the program). 38 women and girls completed the initial feedback, 33 completed the follow up (27 had attend the first workshop).

Based on the analysis of the surveys and focus group discussions, there was a positive response by the majority of participants to the workshops. The majority also had positive experiences with the use of the reusable pads and plan to continue to use them in the future, with reductions in the expenses incurred for menstrual products expected.