Advancing Maternal & Reproductive Health in the DRC: SOFDI & WomenChoice Update

In a groundbreaking effort to mitigate the state of menstrual poverty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rockflower's collaborative project with Solidarité des Femmes pour le Développement Intégral (SOFDI) and WomenChoice Industries is making significant progress. This partnership, backed by Rockflower's commitment to fostering a cross-pollination of ideas and resources, aims to transform the lives of women and girls in the DRC through education on menstrual health and economic empowerment.

Despite the DRC's rich natural resources, conflict, political upheaval and instability have greatly contributed to widespread poverty and a high rate of domestic violence. This backdrop makes this collaborative project not only timely but essential. Lucy Odiwa of WomenChoice and Dr. Alice Lukumbu Rose of SOFDI, through their combined efforts, are bringing hope and tangible change to the lives of women in the region.

The project kicked off with an ambitious goal: to educate over 150 women in the DRC on menstrual and reproductive health, while also providing entrepreneurship training. The initiative introduced women to Salama Pads, a sustainable menstrual hygiene product developed by WomenChoice Industries. This effort is supported by a comprehensive approach that includes savings and lending programs to bolster the participants' economic standing.

The first training session of the program took place in early December, 2023, in Baraka, a town in the southern province of Kivu. The session attracted over 40 young girls and women, primarily members of women's organizations in the Fizi territory and Baraka. The enthusiastic participation from this session underscores the community's eagerness and readiness for change. Participants have now embraced the knowledge as a tool for change and are committed to disseminating what they have learned.

The training's methodology, which included online sessions followed by in-person meetings, allowed for a comprehensive learning experience. Participants were introduced to reusable menstrual products for the first time, learning not only about their health benefits but also their positive economic impact. This education challenges the status quo, breaking down taboos and offering women and girls a new perspective on menstrual health management.

The success of this initial session is just the beginning. SOFDI, with the support of Rockflower and WomenChoice Industries, plans to extend this program to other areas, including Uvira and Kazimia, reaching more women and girls and continuing to challenge and change the narrative around menstrual health and economic empowerment in the DRC.

This collaboration between SOFDI and WomenChoice Industries, exemplifies the power of partnership and innovation in addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing women and girls today. As we continue to monitor their progress, we are reminded of the potential for change when communities come together, supported by a vision of growth and equality.

Stay tuned for more updates as we follow this inspiring journey towards a future where every woman and girl in the DRC can live in dignity, free from menstrual poverty.

WomenChoice Industries: Lucy Odiwa's Journey

How personal experience, a little impactful financing and a deep commitment to improving the lives of women and girls have contributed towards ending period poverty in Tanzania.

WomenChoice Industries, a Rockflower partner since April 2019, is a social enterprise that manufactures and distributes affordable reusable sanitary towels to women and girls  from low income communities in Tanzania. The early investment from Rockflower provided an opportunity to scale up  the production and distribution of the products, whilst at the same time providing important menstrual  hygiene management information and empowering  socially  disadvantaged  women  on the  MHM business model with financial and management skills. 

WomenChoice  Industries  co-Founder, Ms. Lucy Odiwa had a deeply personal experience at the start of her menstrual experience at Asumbi  Girls  secondary  school  in Western Kenya, which began her journey into this work.  At age 16 Lucy struggled with the challenge of access to menstrual care products, information and services with little open conversation around menstruation. Access to  information is restricted by social and cultural taboos, myths and misconceptions, such that it prohibits women and girls the ability to discuss the experience openly with their siblings, parents and or relatives.  Lucy recalls a particularly tough moment in a Maths class when she was called to calculate an algebraic equation in Mathematics, she realized as she was standing at the blackboard that she was also leaking blood onto her clothes. 

Confused and embarrassed Lucy ran to the dormitory, and on the way she  picked up a fellow   student’s white sock hanging from a clothesline and used it to manage her menses. Lucy would subsequently go on to miss school for five consecutive  days, missing out on important lessons and reducing her ability to perform as a nomal A+ student in Mathematics.  She would later discover in her research that many girls feigned sickness to be able to skip class during their periods so that they wouldn’t be put in the position to be ashamed if they were unable to manage their menstrual cycles in public at school. 

Young women and girls from low  resource  settings  in Tanzania, face  a myriad of  menstrual  hygiene management health challenges as they go about their daily routines. They lack  proper menstrual management absorbents, forcing them to  trade “Sex for pads’’  with men  twice or even three times their age.  This in turn exposes them to early and unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions , sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDs. Just as importantly girls might miss school for up to 4-7 days a month, a total of 48-84 days  annually  due  to menstruation.

Lucy’s personal experience and the stories she heard from other girls, convinced her that something had to be done and she co-founded WomenChoice Industries as a solution to this   menstrual hygiene management challenge. Ms Odiwa innovated the low cost reusable sanitary towels “salama, safe pads’’.  The reusable sanitary towel is affordable, low priced,  chemical free, odourless, and can withstand up to 100 washings. It can save on menstrual hygiene expenses by between 75-90%  annually  and is kept hygienic by simple  hand washing with water and a bar of soap. The cost per pack of 5 pieces  of  pads cost  US$ 2.3 compared  to US$ 72 annually for disposable  sanitary  towels.

Rockflower’s initial investment of $7,500 allowed Lucy the breathing room she needed to expand her inventory and develop her business model. Now just over two years later she has taken the small social enterprise to a mid level business reaching a great many girls with low cost and affordable reusable sanitary towels. 

Achievements: 

• Manufactured and distributed a total of  34,234  packets  of  low  priced , affordable   reusable sanitary  towels  by the end of  June  2021.

• Established a schools based menstrual hygiene management information system, opening up the menstrual hygiene management conversation in 25 primary and secondary   schools  reaching 12,657  school  students  by the end of June  2021

• Empowered a total of 300 socially disadvantaged women and girls, sex workers, teenage mothers,  single mothers,  widows  and people   with  HIV/A  on  menstrual hygiene  management  models,  business and financial literacy skills engaging them as vendors  and sales  agents 

• Distributed a total of 16,756 girls in schools with  with low cost, affordable  reusable  sanitary towels  by  June  2021

WomenChoice Industries  has received several international recognitions and has become the top 50  and top 20 African business Heroes for its role in implementing the Sustainable  Development Goals  and supporting  women  led initiatives  

Challenges

The enterprise faced several developmental  challenges.

• Menstrual hygiene management  information, is shrouded with several social and cultural taboos, myths and misconceptions,  such that it is not openly discussed, this  has a huge impact on the potential sales of the reusable sanitary towels.

• The tax management system for the products imported from outside the country -  the government offers tax exemption for the imported disposable menstrual care products, but does not offer the same  exemptions for raw materials  associated   with the production of menstrual care products. This keeps the cost of importing these materials very high.

• The increasing operational  costs,  including transport  and logistics to expand access to  reusable  sanitary  towels into the remotest part of the country still presents critical  challenges impacting the product  accessibility and the ability to access the target  population promptly  and in a timely manner. 

• Period poverty: the inability of the local women and girls to purchase reusable sanitary  towels, the majority  of  women  still remain  unable  to  buy pads as the majority  earn  less than  US$ 1.9 a day.

• Lack of mobile phones for many of the sales agents and vendors.  WomenChoice Industries uses the WhatsApp application in the promotion and marketing strategies , but many of the socially disadvantaged women lack a smartphone gadget,  to promptly  access communication. 

Rockflower Partners with Womenchoice Industries to Create Reusable Sanitary Pads

Rockflower is pleased to announce a new partnership with Womenschoice Industries, a social enterprise established to provide solutions to menstrual and other feminine hygiene problems.

Rockflower is partnering with Womenchoice Industries to invest in scaling up the production of resusable sanitary pads and other feminine hygiene products to improve economic opportunities for low income families in Muheza, Tanzania and to keep girls in school.  

Find out more about Reusable Sanitary Pads Project.

The founder of Womenchoice Industries, Lucy Odiwa, was also the winner of the SDGs and Her competition that another one of our partners, Mukuru Cookstoves, placed second in. Read more about the competition and her win here.