Uganda: Keep a girl in school

In October 2015, GFA BRIDGES launched the Keep a Girl in School program in Uganda to promote girl child education along with menstrual hygiene management. The project aims a positive impact on the school attendance of girls within the urban setting who are facing challenges of how to handle menstruation in a way that does not affect their studies. In extreme cases, girls miss class because they do not have any absorbents during this period. The intervention of GFA BRIDGES, especially during the critical time of National Examinations in Uganda, will hopefully retain more girls in school and sensitize them on how to manage that special time in the month. More than 1,000 girls at Kitebi Senior Secondary School benefit from this project. Each will receive two packets of sanitary pads per month until March 2016. So far, the project has successfully donated over 3,000 pads in October. In addition, the project prepares to install two incinerators that are meant to assist with proper disposal of sanitary waste at school.

This project is undertaken by Rhona Nakakande, GFA staff member in Uganda and Maria Auma