WinS4Girls: Advocacy and Capacity Building for Menstrual Hygiene Management through Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools Programs

The onset of menstruation poses multiple challenges for school-girls: many are uneducated about menstruation and how to manage it; many girls do not have the support or resources in schools to provide strategies for coping; and a lack of facilities, water, and soap for cleaning and management may convince girls to miss or reduce participation in school. There is a need to better understand education impacts of girls who are menstruating.

Emory University partnered with UNICEF and UNGEI in a initiative to strengthen evidence-based advocacy and action on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in developing countries. The project was designed to strengthen MHM in 14 countries through research, capacity building and support advocacy in incorporating gendersensitive MHM into WinS programming. The goal of our collaboration was to understand the scope of education impacts and challenges across settings in order to foster a broad movement towards mitigating challenges posed by menstruation among adolescent girls.

Moreover, this research program informed a ‘basic package of interventions’ for girls who are menstruating in school. Using an in-depth qualitative approach, recommended intervention strategies were informed by girls themselves and were tailored to specific cultural and environmental contexts.The WinS4Girls E-Course was designed by the Center for Global Safe WASH at Emory University and UNICEF to help strengthen the capacity of WASH practitioners and policymakers to carry out rigorous research that investigates local MHM practices and challenges. The 12-module e-course contributes to the objectives of the broader project by:

• Exposing participants to the different MHM practices and challenges facing girls in schools around the world, drawing on current research and initiatives

• Highlighting gender-sensitive approaches to research and programming, and discussing how these approaches can be applied to future work

• Promoting shared learning and collaboration from various country-level stakeholders, including ministries of education. Each participating country will form its own working group to complete assignments collectively

• Strengthening the capacity of participants to undertake research on MHM. Participants will also learn how to use research results to inform programmes, policy and advocacy

The global coordination and evidence generation from Wins4Girls has helped to drive a global increase in attention, research and resources for MHM in low and middle income countries. Project outcomes, including lessons learned and resources, can be found on the official WinS4Girls website.

Publications:

1. Building Qualitative Research Capacity Among Interdisciplinary Teams to Investigate Girls’ Challenges With Menstruation: Process and Lessons Learned From a 14-Country E-Course (2018)

Resources:

• WinS4Girls Compendium

• WASH in Schools for Girls Course Book

• WASH in Schools Empowers Girls’ Education: Tools for Assessing Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools

Briefs, reports, case studies:

• WASH in Schools Empowers Girls’ Education in Rural Cochabamba, Bolivia: An Assessment of Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools

• WASH in Schools Empowers Girls’ Education in Masbate Province and Metro Manila, Philippines: An Assessment of Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools

• WASH in Schools Empowers Girls’ Education in Freetown, Sierra Leone: An Assessment of Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools

Study Location

Globally

Target Population

Schools and school-girls

Principal Investigators

Matthew Freeman

IMPLEMENTING partners

UNICEF, UNGEI, Emory University’s Center for Global Safe WASH (CGSW)

Funders

Global Affairs of the Government of Canada

Project Staff

Victoria Trinies, Anna Ellis, Bethany Caruso