Always Helps Girls Achieve Education Worldwide
In March 2018, Always — a major feminine hygiene product maker — launched a campaign aimed at ending period poverty. Since then, Always and The Red Box Project, a community-driven initiative that ensures girls can access sanitary products, have donated over 14 million sanitary pads to school girls in the U.K. This is not the first time Always has helped girls around the world. Always has partnered with over 60 organizations that help girls in need. Below are a few of the programs that Always helps girls with around the world.
How Always Focuses on Girls’ Education Around the World
- #EndPeriodPoverty
Always believes that every girl should be able to access sanitary hygiene products, and as of March of 2019, it has donated more than 15 million pads to school girls in the United Kingdom. By partnering with The Red Box Project, Always helps girls become empowered all across the United Kingdom. This initiative has also reached the United States. - In Kind Direct Partnership
Before launching #EndPeriodPoverty, Always worked with In Kind Direct, a nonprofit organization in the United Kingdom that “inspires product giving for social good and works to alleviate hygiene poverty.” This organization receives donated items from over 1,125 different companies, like Always, and distributes them to charities across the United Kingdom. For over 14 years, Always has partnered with In Kind Direct and donated over two million hygiene products to the more than 137,700 school girls in the United Kingdom that miss school due to period poverty. - UNESCO and Save the Children Partnership and the Syrian Refugee Crisis
The Syrian refugee crisis represents one of the worst humanitarian crises of this time. The majority of the more than 11 million Syrians that have fled their homes during the Syrian Civil War are girls and young women who are unable to attend school or find employment. The main reason for this is that these young girls face gender-based barriers. Always and P&G have partnered with UNESCO and Save the Children to implement an empowerment program that ensures that girls and young women living in Jordan have access to educational opportunities, learn life skills and have access to work readiness training. This program is an expansion of the Always and Save the Children partnership, which has concentrated on helping young girls in Mexico, Nepal, South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa stay in school. It is also an extension of Always’ previous work with UNESCO, which gives girls in Senegal and Nigeria basic literacy and information technology education. By creating educational programs such as this, Always empowers girls to build confidence and strive to reach their fullest potential. - Always and UNESCO: Girl’s Literacy Programme
In 2011, Always and UNESCO partnered to give young African girls access to literacy education. According to Always, 497 million girls and young women are illiterate and in Senegal, more than four out of 10 girls have dropped out of school. With the Girls’ Literacy Program, 60,000 girls in Nigeria and Senegal have gained information and communication technologies which will help them achieve access to the education they need. Through the Revitalizing Adults and Youth Literacy program, also created by Always and UNESCO, young girls use e-Learning to learn how to read and write, gain basic numeracy and learn life and vocational skills as well. Always has committed to reaching 110,000 girls in Nigeria and Senegal before 2020. - Puberty, Health and Hygiene Education with Save the Children
According to UNICEF, one in 10 African school girls does not attend school during menstruation or drops out of school altogether because they lack sufficient sanitation facilities. Another reason that these young girls drop out of school is that their families and cultures do not have the correct facts about menstruation. In a video produced by Save the Children, one girl from Ethiopia said that her parents told her that a girl gets her period when she has sex outside of marriage. Save the Children and P&G, the producers of Always, have partnered to ensure that young girls gain the knowledge and confidence to stay in school. Together, Always and Save the Children have helped over 10,000 girls in Nepal, Ethiopia and Mexico escape embarrassment from menstruation and allow them to remain in school. By providing the tools to succeed, Always empowers girls to say in school. - Always’ Keeping Girls in School Programme
While many girls around the world miss school during menstruation, providing basic hygiene products as well as education about puberty and menstruation can help keep girls in school. By working with local governments and charities, Always helps girls stay in school by making sure they have clean and safe sanitary facilities and provide education about feminine hygiene and puberty. Always’ Keeping Girls in School programme has helped over 170,000 girls in addition to donating 11 million pads to schools.
Always helps girls and women all around the world and empowers them to live their lives without any barriers. Millions of girls worldwide miss school and drop out due to period poverty. Girls from Africa to the United States suffer this issue but Always is dedicated to empowering girls and young women by educating them about puberty and providing them with proper feminine hygiene products.
– Andrea Rodriguez
Photo: Flickr