Friends of Nepal Grant 2021-2022
Skill Training to Enable self –Empowerment in Menstrual Health
This project’s broader goal is to empower adolescent girls of Crystal Mountain School in Dho Tarap village to be self sufficient in taking care of their menstrual health equipping them with skill training in producing their own pad and knowledge about their menstrual cycle. Our vision is for these girls to share their skill and knowledge with other women in the village and be the change agent.
Objectives
• Train teachers and student of grade 9 and 10 as the change actors in pad making and menstruation information sharing skills
• Conduct workshop in the school to train other students
• Avail cloth pads made by the students to the adolescent girls leaving no one behind • Conduct workshop in the community
• Initiate information hubs in-collaboration with Female Community Health Volunteers and Mothers Group
Activities to meet the objectives
• Training the students and teachers in Kathmandu
• Workshop by the trained student in Crystal Mountain School
• Workshop in the village
• Form menstrual health hub in Crystal mountain school
• Avail clot pads for the adolescent girls in the Crystal Mountain School.
Progress Report
As the first tier of the activities 6 students and 2 teachers from Crystal Mountain School attended 4 days training in Kathmandu. The training is provided in co-ordination with Kokroma. The vision of the training was to make the girls confident in cutting and ultimately make pads their preferred design independently.
All the trainees were selected by Crystal Mountain School teachers. Further discussion on their interest, passion and willingness to carry on the project in future and to be the change agent were held before sending them to the training. During the four days of training the trainer learned cutting different designs of cloth pads, sew cloth pads both with machine and hand.
Trainee hand sewing cloth pads
Student sewing pad with the machine
Learning about cutting and layering
Ending the training with a big smiles
Outcome of the Training:
At the end of the 4 days training the trainee exhibited confidence in cutting their desired designs of pads, and hand sew different designs. They learned the basic of sewing with machine
The trainee produced around 120 pads by the end of the training. And had additional material to learn and sew more as they refine their machine skills.
The trainees’ also learned to set up the sewing machines on their own. And had the machine set up in Snow Leopards Residence where they will spend the winter for their practice. Upon the completion of the training the trainee mentioned that they feel confident in making pads and sharing their skills to other students.
“We learned cutting patterns, layering and finally assembling three designs. I feel very confident in hand sewing any of the three designs. I can also do on machine, but it is not as fine and good as the hand one. But we are planning to practice more on the machine during the winter. We already have the machines set up in here at our hostel.” –Grade 9 Student
“I enjoyed the training, the trainers were very patience and nice in explaining. It was very much fun. I am excited to go back and teach other students in CMS.” –Grade 10 Student
Challenges:
The training was planned in December 2021, because of the pandemic things got delayed. More than the timing delayed the pandemic raises cost of many of the materials which increased the cost of the training. The trainee produced only about 120 pads by the end of the training whereas the training planner estimated 4 times more. The difference can be attributed to lack of training experiences of Kokroma, gap in the skill set of the trainee and the planner’s expectations. Most significant reason being the project manager of the training center diagnosed with CoViD as the training started and has to handover to other staffs. Training preparation took longer than the original plan as many of the wholesalers were closed because of the pandemic and materials were not available with the current interruptions in the shipment.
Next Immediate Steps:
The trainee will practice machine sewing to enhance their sewing skill and be confident enough to their fellow student in Crystal Mountain School once they return back to the village in April.
Two information sessions on menstrual cycle, hygiene and information giving will be held by mid March.
Trained student will hold a hand sewing workshop in Kathmandu for those women who are currently in Kathmandu for pilgrimage. This will be a learning session for the student to practically learn what they will need to prepare for workshop in the village in summer.