Written by: Subhiksha Manoj and Bharti Kannan from Boondh
India’s 1.3 billion people were ordered to stay in for three weeks starting March 24th, 2020, to tackle the spread of the coronavirus. However, it soon became clear that this solution did not suit the needs of the nation. One way this fact was demonstrated was by the exodus of over 40 million internal migrants who took to the streets and started crossing state borders on foot.
The sanitary napkin crisis was another instance that signalled the unmet sanitary needs of over 355 million menstruating women. More than 30% (exclusive of Transgender, Gender Non-Binary menstruators) of our country’s population was left with anxiety and lack of control over their menstrual hygiene.
Enter Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) NGOs in India. Our country has a well-established network of over 3.4 million NGOs. According to The Central Statistical Organisation of India, there are around four MHH NGOs for every 1,000 people in urban areas and 2.3 NGOs for every 1,000 rural population. This means that a good percentage of the population, fortunately, had access to redressal over their MHH concerns.
In this article, we highlight some of the contributions made by MHH organisations and civil society in India during the lockdown and discuss how they adapted to the Covid landscape.
The Intervention Of NGOs And Civil Society
One main reason that the impact of the work put in by most NGOs is far higher than that of the government is that NGOs take a fundamentally different approach — a need-based approach. This bottom-up method is crucial to understand where and how the larger system (schemes) needs to readjust to gainfully service its target, even during emergencies. Myna Mahila Foundation, a Mumbai-based NGO that manufactures sanitary napkins and employs women from communities, ran a campaign to disseminate menstrual hygiene lessons through WhatsApp.
Amidst the lockdown, cyclone Amphan wreaked havoc in the eastern parts of West Bengal, leaving many homeless, injured and in dire need of help. Anahat, a Kolkata-based NGO, having previously interacted with the communities there, returned with MHH aid. They distributed kits, each including four cloth pads and one underwear.
“Many advised us to give out sanitary napkins, but in these areas, they do not use one. Tribal women don’t even use underwear. Giving them sanitary pads means we have to ask them to pay a lot more. They live in forests close to heritage sites. They will be polluting these areas inevitably. We didn’t want to play with all these factors,” says Namrata Karamchandani, Founder of Anahat. They distributed 6,000-7,000 kits in disrupted areas, including the Sunderbans. This drive was organised in collaboration with Paint it Red and the German Consulate, which partly funded the initiative, apart from other donors and individuals.
Dr Sneha Rooh, a palliative physician and founder of Orikalankini, has started the fundraiser ‘Pads That Last – Leave no one Padless’ on Milaap. The initiative aims to collect Rs 99,000 to be able to make cloth pads so that emergencies don’t leave anyone padless. So far, 25 workshops have been conducted in the remote and far-flung villages of Kargil and reusable cloth pads distributed to 800 young girls, teachers and Anganwadi workers.
“We are making sure that people have food, medicines and masks, but periods don’t stop for pandemics. When there are little savings and no jobs, often a decision arises: shall I buy pads or food? This decision, however, is very very silent. The impacts of this decision are only on the menstruator. No one knows. No one needs to know no,” wrote Dr Rooh to encourage people to donate.
This, again, is a collaboration with Enactus and Mool creations to provide high-quality cotton pad ‘potli’ to women in various rural and conflict conditions. A set consists of three cloth pads that cost Rs 150 per pack and will last beyond the lockdown (up to two years if properly washed and dried in sunlight).
This is one of the hundreds of fundraisers on platforms such as Milaap that look into meeting MHH needs of underserved communities, especially on creating long-lasting solutions. Anahat also employed women to manufacture the cloth pads that were distributed in Amphan-affected regions. As a result, women earned Rs 15,000 during a short span of relief work. “This adds significantly to a household that has lost its livelihood. We are very happy and proud that we could have them on board,” said Karamchandani.
Taking up opportunities to help marginalised communities make their own livelihood and providing them with long-term solutions paint a very promising picture for the welfare of all. Community engagement is truly the key to building trust between NGOs and civil society. It is also important to foster these relationships for future collaborations.
Local government bodies must collaborate with grassroots organisations that will encourage and push for needs-based interventions. While there have been such collaborations in the past, “it just takes some time to reach them.”
Alakshi Tomari, co-founder of TruCups, has collaborated with United Nations Development Programme, the government of Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, District Commission of Jharkhand and the Airport Authority of India before the lockdown. “It was not easy to get in touch with these government authorities directly. We had to go through common connections of people who have previously collaborated with government authorities via fellowships/ internships etc. Very rarely cold calls work,” she says.
Rangeen Khidki Foundation in Kolkata, on the other hand, tried reaching out to the local government officials and various departments over email only to receive no response. In these emails, Sanjina Gupta, Founder and Executive Director of the foundation, had requested that women’s health and hygiene do not take the backseat during emergencies and also explained the possible repercussions if it did. She also suggested ways to ensure that the supply chain is not interrupted.
“In West Bengal, at least three political parties are always at loggerheads — the TMCP, BJP and CPM. This actually creates challenges to reach people on ground. Other than that, there were simply no funds being directed to MHH needs. They were being directed to multiple other causes. For example, when the Amphan cyclone hit the state, PM Modi did a visual survey and denied the State government itself the funds it had requested to rebuild the shore. Migrant labourers due to the lockdown were coming back to the state as well.”
Irrespective of the support by the government, a number of initiatives have been conducted within the capacities of the NGOs. Mumbai-based Myna ran a campaign to disseminate menstrual hygiene lessons through WhatsApp. They also employed an eight-point plan to support the vulnerable with basic ration, sanitary needs and general health check.
Another Mumbai-based NGO, Kavach – A Movement, made essential kits for the poor that included a big packet of sanitary pads, three underwears, towel, soap and washing bar. YP Foundation, based in Noida, and GOONJ, based in Delhi, produced instructional videos on how to make cloth pads at home.
WAVE in Ladakh organised menstrual hygiene workshops in collaboration with other local NGOs and social enterprises including KASCO and Roots Ladakh to improve and ensure menstrual hygiene for girls in Kargil. So far, 25 workshops have been conducted in the remote and far-flung villages of Kargil and have reusable cloth pads have been distributed to 800 young girls, teachers and Anganwadi workers.
These are only a few among a thousand initiatives that civil society responded to regarding its MHH needs. Please note that Boondh does not have any preferential associations as we highlight some of their work.
All images have been provided by the author.
Note: The article was originally published on Feminism in India and re-published here with their permission.