Irise International Summary of 5 Year Plan

Transcription

1 Irise International Summary of 5 Year Plan Mission Statement: Irise International works to support the education and empowerment of marginalised women and girls in East Africa specifically through developing a replicable and sustainable solution to Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM). MHM is an issue identified by disadvantaged women and girls as a driver of gender inequality and disempowerment through an insidious impact on their ability to engage in education and make good decisions about their reproductive health. We believe that menstrual hygiene is a girls rights issue because of its impact on multiple human rights of women and girls including the right to sanitation, health, education, employment and dignity. It can also be transformed into a driver of change through enabling women to achieve more and by starting conversations that challenge traditional gender roles. Our vision is a world where no girl is held back by her period and a society that enables all girls to reach their full potential. With the dawn of every single period; the heat, the sitting arrangement, the lack of proper washing facilities, the lack of sanitary pads, the anxiety and selfconsciousness made me feel like I was in prison, a monthly prison. We used to use old t-shirts and other cotton fabric as sanitary towels. Other girls use dried maize cobs as tampons, toilet roll, absorbent leaves, etc. Some choose to not bother going to school at all, especially those whose periods lasted longer usual. The shame of blood leaking through your skirt, boys calling you names, sores and infections, to mention but a few, makes you hate being a young healthy woman. Irise Objectives: 1. Developing and delivering high quality menstrual health education in East Africa 2. Delivering an affordable menstrual hygiene product in East Africa 3. Generating an evidence base to inform the development of MHM programmes in East Africa 4. Raising awareness about MHM nationally and internationally in the broader context of women and girls education and empowerment Model:

2 Irise International adopts a hybrid model because we believe that this is best suited to effectively address the issue we work on. It enables us to: - Manufacture in the community meaning our product is of comparable quality but nearly half the price of other reusable products on the market. - Focus on establishing local access and providing women with a choice of product - Carry the social marketing and education needed to create a local, sustainable market without making the end product unaffordable to the end user - Conduct the product testing and other market research needed to develop a long term solution Education We focus on developing replicable training resources that enable organisations to institutionalise change and continue to teach and train on menstrual and reproductive health year after year. We currently work with the Ministry of Education in Uganda and plan to collaborate with Gaming Revolution for International Development to achieve this. We will also develop social marketing materials that target gatekeepers in the local community in order to mobilise resources to support women and girls on this issue. Enterprise Our sales representatives work to develop relationships with a range of local and national organisations in order to establish sustainable supply in the areas where we work. Organisations include NGOs, Community Based Organisations, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, supermarkets, shops and schools. Partners work with us to distribute free samples, identify local entrepreneurs who can sell the product and integrate sanitary products into existing sales portfolios or income generating activities. Our Sales Team will also offer a range of products manufactured by other organisations including a cheap disposable pad from Kenya, a menstrual cup and alternative reusable pads. 20,000 Pilot work engaged 20 women in production, 2 women as Sales Representatives, 20 people as local entrepreneurs, 4 people as educators and supplied 6,000 girls with pads and education. Evaluation showed that our intervention improved girls long term knowledge of menstrual health and could preserve 1.5 days of school per month per girl. That s 18 days a year.

3 Theory of Change PROBLEM Lack of a reliable product Lack of safe and private facilities Lack of information Myths and taboos SOLUTION Establish sustainable supply of an affordable product in the community Engage women in product production and sales Social marketing to engage men and mobilise resources Integrating education into local organisations and institutions EFFECTS Girls miss school Girls have low self-esteem Increased risk of urogenital infection Women and girls activities restricted Negative attitudes to women and girls reinforced OUTCOMES Girls access a product Girls have the information to use the product safely Men have more knowledge The community has more knowledge about menstrual and reproductive health WHAT NEXT Girls attend school during menstruation Girls have more confidence Reduced risk of infection Men and boys are more supportive Women and girls activities are less restricted Positive attitudes to women and girls are promoted IMPACT Girls perform better at school Women participate more in the public sphere Improved reproductive health Gender inequality reduced Timeline: Short Term Medium Term Long Term -To develop a replicable menstrual health education training package and social marketing materials -To develop a sales strategy based around establishing sustainable supply chains and making products available in the local community - To develop a Menstrual Hygiene Package that includes education and access to products - To develop an evidence base for this Package -To roll out and evaluate a Menstrual Hygiene Programme in Uganda based around working in partnership with other organisations to integrate menstrual hygiene into their activities. -To adapt our resources and model to other contexts within East Africa -To develop a head office to aid fundraising and expansion. -To expand to other East African countries. -To adapt our training package and other resources for use outside East Africa. -To consider Irise s role in identifying neglected women and girls rights issues and developing innovative solutions more generally.

4 Competitive Analysis: Model What they do How we are different A forprofit model A nonprofit model Businesses who manufacture reusable pads using a traditional corporate business structure. NGOs train women s groups to make reusable pads which they can sell locally. Our product is of comparable quality but nearly half the price of other reusable pads on the market. The charity arm of our hybrid model is able to invest in training and engaging women from disadvantaged communities in product production. In the short term this is more challenging but long term it enables production of a cheaper product because the production unit can be rooted in the community, keeping overheads to a minimum. One of the major challenges in generating local sales is that there are often gatekeepers (parents, husbands etc.) who control resources meaning women and girls desire for a product may not translate into demand. An initial investment in social marketing and education is needed to generate this demand. It is difficult for a pure for-profit to justify this when NGOs will buy and distribute products for free. However, in the long term investing in generating a local market is more sustainable and it simultaneously removes many of the taboos and misinformation that prevent girls using products safely or maximising the benefits of having a reliable product. Additionally, it encourages communities to prioritise the welfare of their girls (research suggests that many men spend three times the cost of pads on beer every month, likely because they are unaware of the challenges their daughters face). Our hybrid model is able to make this investment and sacrifice larger immediate profits in favour of long term sustainability and capacity building. This is a model that has been tried by many NGOs in East Africa. The products produced generally end up being overpriced because materials cannot be bought in bulk and are used inefficiently in an informal production set-up. The product is also often of very variable quality because of the ad hoc nature of production. Additionally, because the product is reusable it is necessary to cover a wide area in order to generate enough sales to maintain regular production. Women s groups lack the capacity to set up these sales infrastructures and as a result their small area is quickly saturated with the product and the group loses interest. Our business arm brings the formalised structure needed to maximise efficiency and establish effective sales mechanisms.

5 Targets: Year Number of areas covered by Irise training programme Number of Irise cascade trainers Number of Irise regional trainers Number of partner organisations trained Number of girls receiving teaching each year* 24,000 48,000 96, , ,600 Number of production units Number of women employed in production Number of women employed as Sales Representatives Number of women and girls supplied with pads each year** 20,000 33,750 56, , ,500 *Assuming organisations previously trained continue to integrate the work into their programmes and teach approximately 4,800 girls annually. A similar number of boys will also receive teaching. **Assuming a standard unit of production and 3 sales representatives produce and sell respectively, 3,000 kits per month and kits last 9 months on average N.B. Budgets and projections available on request (info@irise.org.uk) I love Irise because it teaches us what we do not know I no longer get worried; because of the pads I got I can be able to do everything, even playing, jumping and sitting in class.