Executive Summary 

Nepal CRS Company played a significant role in the KfW funded Improvement of Maternal and Child Care in Remote Areas (IMCCR) project. With financial support from the German Development Cooperation through KfW, Nepal CRS Company implemented the Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) Project in four districts of Sudurpaschim Province: Dadeldhura, Doti, Baitadi, and Bajhang1.

As part of this project, Nepal CRS Company launched  “freedom”  biodegradable sanitary napkin to promote menstrual hygiene management in these remote areas1. This initiative aimed to support the Government of Nepal's efforts to ensure dignified menstruation and improve maternal and child health.

In addition to launching the biodegradable sanitary napkin "Freedom," Nepal CRS Company implemented several Behavior Change Communication (BCC) activities as part of the IMCCR project. These activities included:

Awareness Campaigns: 

Conducting awareness campaigns in schools and communities to educate people about menstrual hygiene management and reduce social stigma and taboos associated with menstruation.

Training Workshops:

Organizing training workshops for teachers, health workers, and community leaders to equip them with the knowledge and skills to promote menstrual hygiene management effectively.

Distribution of Educational Materials: 

Distributing educational materials such as pamphlets, posters, and videos to spread information about menstrual hygiene and the importance of using biodegradable sanitary products.

Community Engagement:  

Engaging with local communities through interactive sessions and discussions to address myths and misconceptions about menstruation and encourage open conversations about menstrual health2.

Social Marketing:

 Implementing social marketing strategies to promote the use of biodegradable sanitary napkins and make them more accessible and affordable2.

These BCC activities aimed to create a supportive environment for menstrual hygiene management and improve the overall health and well-being of women and girls in the targeted areas.

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Geographical Locations

 Under Improvement of Maternal and Child Care in Remote Area (IMCCR) project and through social marketing of sanitary napkins, CRS has increased the availability, accessibility and affordability, safety and acceptability of the 100% biodegradable sanitary napkin among 4 districts in the far-west region (Province 7): Bajhang, Baitadi, Dadeldhura, and Doti and has implemented the Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) program in these four districts.

  PROJECT COMPONENTS 

 The major components of the project are depicted in the figure below:

TEACHER’S ORIENTATION

The teacher’s orientation is targeted towards Health and Science teachers, by providing orientation regarding MHM. This orientation plans to cover a total of 1244 teachers from 633 schools in the project districts. The main objective of the training is to sensitize the teachers in various issues associated with MHM. The teacher shall be equipped with the necessary skills and tools to help them understand menstruation and good MHM practices, so that they further educate and support the students in the school accordingly.

The teacher’s orientation program has been conducted in 633 schools with a total of 1244 teachers trained. CRS has been coordinating with the local government authorities from the beginning, CRS has also actively engaged representatives from the local health and educational organizations to participate and contribute in the orientation sessions.

Teachers were oriented using different forms of IEC/BCC materials and the games developed to facilitate the learning on MHM.

Even though the orientation was targeted towards Health and Science teachers, there were participation from other subject teachers and MHM focal person from some of the schools. A total of 1244 teachers have been oriented through the MHM Program.

 MASS COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES 

Mass communication is a very crucial component of the MHM Project. Various ATL/BTL activities have been planned and are being carried out by Nepal CRS in collaboration with MPDS. 4 radio PSAs and 1 radio jingle have been prepared and are being aired all over the project districts. The 4 PSAs are prepared to inform the audience about various aspects of MHM like nutrition, raise awareness regarding menstruation, menstrual hygiene and management while the radio jingle is prepared to promote “Freedom” in the project districts. 

SCHOOL ORIENTATION

School Orientation is a primary objective of the MHM project. The KAP survey conducted and the observations made by the field staff notified that the current school curriculum on MHM is mostly theoretical, neither engaging the students nor the teachers. Therefore, the school orientation programs are planned to be conducted in all the 633 schools to all the students of class 6-10 to create awareness and educate them about the importance of MHM.

During the orientation program, students will also be informed about the availability of the newly launched CRS’s sanitary napkin “Freedom” at a reasonable price near them and also creating awareness in the school children about MHM and the issues relating to it. Furthermore, encouraging and motivating the girl children to adopt safer and healthier MHM practices through various games and quizzes and also helping them to understand the need of MHM.

The school orientation is currently being carried out in all 4 focused districts. So far, the school orientations have smoothly taken place in 460 schools throughout the 4 districts. A total of 68,234 students have been oriented out of which 30,653 are male and the remaining 37581 are female which depicts a majority of participation from the girls.

The students being oriented through the school orientation are aged 9-19 year old which is the right time to be aware and informed about Menstruation and better ways to manage it.

The school orientation is being carried out side-by-side along with the mass communication activities.

PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT

The project was implemented between Aug 2021-November 2022. During the project period, CRS oriented 1244 teachers from 633 public schools on MHM, developed and distributed IEC/BCC material to 633 schools and reached 96,916 students (Female 50,994, Male 45,922) through student orientations in the schools.