Crowned Girl

Ladies C.L.C is raising funds towards the Crowned Girl Project to provide free sanitary pads to female students in rural and arid areas of Kenya. The Initiative will distribute the pads to girls in 
more than 1000 schools,both primary and secondary schools. At the primary 
level, these will encompass girls from Class 5 to Class 8. The Initiative will 
organize trainings and question-and-answer sessions to give girls a forum to 
discuss related issues. 

Female students face great challenges in terms of hygiene and sanitation. 
For girls who are menstruating, these problems compound the difficulties 
posed by the inability to afford sanitary towels as well as cultural taboos around menstruation. As a result, many girls miss on average four days of school every month which is over a month in a year, meaning they fall behind in class and sometimes even drop out of school altogether. This is an added challenge to the already existing problems that lead to the high dropout rate of female students in primary and secondary schools. The main problems faced by women and girls are:
 The expense of commercial sanitary pads;
 Absenteeism where girls stay at home rather than attending school when menstruating; 
 Unhygienic ways to dry menstrual materials;
 Inadequate waste disposal facilities;
 Lack of privacy for changing menstrual materials; 
 Leakage from poor-quality protection materials;
 The lack of resources for washing such as soap;
 Limited education about the facts of menstruation;
 Limited access to counseling and guidance; 
 Fear caused by cultural myths;
 Embarrassment and low self esteem; 
 And the unsupportive attitudes of some men.

Distribution of reusable pads has radically proved to create a world where women and girls can step boldly into the promise of their future. The goal of the Crowned Girl Project is to empower the vulnerable girls through provision of reusable pads and capacity building on menstrual hygiene management and reproductive health for improved performance and self esteem. This will be 
done through distribution of reusable sanitary pads as well as ensuring provision of menstrual hygiene management education and facilities to girls in primary schools in Kenya. By acquiring knowledge on menstrual 
hygiene management, the overall health status of the girls will be enhanced as myths and misconceptions that surround puberty and menstruation will also be demystified.