Gender Equity
Societal norms, roles, and perceptions of gender can have a large impact on individual health and well-being. Gender norms vary by culture and often influence the health practices and policies adopted by a community. Gender inequities have resulted in substantial barriers to women's health in the African region. Adolescent girls face numerous health threats including HIV infection, early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and gender-based violence. EIA is working to assess the beliefs and behaviors surrounding gender in adolescents and design effective, evidence based interventions and policies to reduce gender biases and improve the health of female adolescents in communities.
Watch a recap of a recent RUMPS Workshop held in Lira, Northern Uganda.
Watch a recap of Katya Besch's Gold Award project focused on menstrual hygiene.
EIA Dance Ambassador, Ana Wipfli, has successfully fundraised and donated over 40 pairs of pointe shoes to the ballet dancers at Project Elimu. Learn more and donate to her Turn-A-Thon Campaign HERE.
Menstrual Hygiene and Gender Empowerment Workshops
EIA includes gender empowerment workshops across all our camp and youth ambassador programs and for the past several years, EIA has been hosting workshops for adolescents specifically focused on menstrual hygiene and construction of reusable menstrual pads. Watch a recap of a recent RUMPS Workshop HERE.
Project Elimu Partnership Program
Project Elimu is a community-driven Non-Profit Organization registered in Kenya providing after school arts and sports education to young people in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya. Since 2022, EIA has been supporting Project Elimu's dance programming and efforts to support menstrual hygiene in Kibera. Most recently, EIA has partnered with Project Elimu to launch the Kibera Young Women Ambassador Program. The program identified 30 young mothers between 18-22 in Kibera to participate in a year long public health awareness and research program. Notably, the women identified lack of access to menstrual management products as a leading cause of early pregnancy. Watch a recap of the initial training week HERE.
Gold Award Opporunities to Support Menstrual Hygiene
Gold Awards are a perfect forum for supporting EIA's menstrual hygiene work. Katya Besch, for example, completed her Girl Scout Gold Award with EIA in January 2021 focused on supporting menstrual hygiene for girls in Uganda. For her project, she developed a workbook focused on reproductive health and menstrual hygiene, raised funds to provide 200 make-your-own sanitary pad kits, and facilitated a pad making workshop with 21 youth in Northern Uganda via Zoom.
