Kila Dada Initiative

While humanity has made major achievements, we are still yet to arrive at a place where every menstruating girl and woman can do so hygienically, safely and have a decent experience, at the very least. Menstruation, albeit as natural a phenomenon as it is, is still one that puts girls and women in less than ideal situations affecting their health, access to basic rights such as education and putting them in compromising situations where sexual favours are exchanged for a pack of pads. To truly change the state of things menstrual health we have to take an ecosystems approach.

 

The Kila Dada Initiative (KDI) was created in 2020 in response to the need for menstrual hygiene products during the pandemic. The dire conditions created by the pandemic made access to these products even more difficult, in places where it already was a challenge. Through KDI, about 1000 girls and women in vulnerable contexts have received a Days for Girls reusable menstrual kit that can last upto 4 years! We use these distributions as a vehicle for highly necessary, open, safe and intimate conversations about reproductive health and the power of natural female cycles with these young women. Through these conversations, we also get to investigate the taboos stifling healthy menstrual expression and gratefully, put some to rest.

 

We have done distributions in Kenya and Tanzania and are currently in the process of setting up a production workshop in Tanga, Tanzania.

 

Activities

 

• Reusable pad distributions

• MHM awareness raising and education

• Reusable pad production