Myna Mahila Foundation

Improves menstrual health & hygiene and generates employment for women in slum areas

  • Bronze Certified 2023
  • FCRA
  • 80G
  • 12A
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About

  • Headquarters

    Mumbai, Maharashtra

  • Since

    2015

Myna Mahila Foundation works with the three-fold objective of improving menstrual hygiene, generating employment for women and building women networks Read more. Another objective is to end the culture of myths, shame and stigma surrounding menstruation and to encourage women to talk about it without considering it a taboo. It works by producing low-cost and good-quality menstrual hygiene products which are supplied to women through door-to-door selling. Women from slum areas in Mumbai are engaged in the process of manufacturing sanitary napkins to provide them with a steady income and augment their status within their families. Apart from the sale of sanitary pads, its operating model is based on principles of education and innovation. Women are educated about menstrual hygiene through quarterly health camps and referred to gynaecologists to maintain menstrual health. The innovation approach focuses on product and process innovation on the basis of customer feedback. To achieve its objective of spreading awareness about menstruation and creating solutions for menstrual problems, it conducts research through door-to-door surveys to develop an understanding of sanitary pad disposal, women’s health, menstrual hygiene and women's employment. To train its employees, it conducts weekly workshops, courses and lectures on English, life skills, health, self-defence and computer literacy. It also trains its employees in business skills to equip them with the necessary skill-set to open a micro-franchise themselves. It is also working on developing opportunities for women, especially mothers, to work from home by providing them with sewing machines and connecting them to marketplaces. Through its portrait project, it aims to highlight the health journeys of its women employees. Myna shop is its initiative to collect donations in kind and redistribute them to individuals in need. In recognition of its work, it had been selected as one of the seven beneficiary charities for the wedding of Royal British family members Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle.


Issue

Women living in the slums find it difficult to override the regulations of family to venture out of the home and find employment. Low awareness about menstrual hygiene and the stigma associated with it leads to unhealthy practices and connected issues. The women are alone fighting for their own and their families survival and has nobody to look up to for help.


Action

Enables employment for the slum women near to their homes providing them with an income, create awarness amongst women on menstrual hygiene and provide them with low cost sanitary products, encourage setting up of groups of women who can fight for each other's rights.

Demographies Served

Impact

The organisation has manufactured over 5,00,000 pads, reached over 15 slums with 90% of women purchasing the pads again and over 5000 women using them.

Programs

  • Menstrual Health Improvement Programme

    District

    The Foundation creates awareness about menstrual health amongst slum women, they are guided on the safe disposal of used sanitary pads and discuss menstrual hygiene openly leading to more confident and hygienic periods.

  • Sponsor a Girl Programme

    District

    The Foundation identifies poor girls who cannot afford to buy sanitary products and equip them with the required products and knowledge to go through their periods with confidence.

  • Campus Ambassadors Programme

    District

    University students are roped in to contribute to the cause of spreading good menstrual hygiene. These students support the cause by setting up pad vending machines and imparting knowledge to other students, teachers and staff on the Foundation's menstrual hygiene management modules.

  • Employment Programme

    District

    Myna Mahila Foundation has set up sanitary pad producing units near slums which employ women from the locality. The women are also employed to act as saleswomen and go around houses selling these pads.

  • Teach Menses India Sessions

    District

    Women and girls are made aware of menstrual health and hygiene through talks. The sessions also include topics like gender attitude, health and nutrition, domestic violence and sexual abuse.

    An effort is being made to reach out to males/ boys also and educate them on this matter and make them appreciate the problems faced by the female population.

Impact Metrics

  • Girls Impacted

    Year-wise Metrics
    • 2017-18 679
    • 2018-19 3318
    • 2019-20 359
  • Offline Sessions to Generate Awareness

    Year-wise Metrics
    • 2017-18 13
    • 2018-19 54
    • 2019-20 7
  • Distributed Sanitary Pad Packets

    Year-wise Metrics
    • 2017-18 4038
    • 2018-19 19314
    • 2019-20 2254

Leadership Team

  • Suhani Jalota

    Founder

  • Rajeev Kumar

    Director

  • Dr. Shraddha Kale Kapile

    Programmes Lead

  • Anjali Dave

  • Iman Sayed

    Communications Associate

  • Sakshi Shah

  • Nicole

  • Sweta

  • Myna Helpline - Tabassum

Demographics & Structure

  • No. of Employees

    51-100

M&E

  • Internal, External Assessors

    No

Policies

  • Ethics and Transparency Policies

    No

  • Formal CEO Oversight & Compensation Policy

    No

Political & Religious Declarations

  • On Affiliation if any

    No

  • On Deployment Bias if any

    No

Registration Details

  • PAN Card

    AAJCM8420C

  • Registration ID

    U74900MH2015NPL266360

  • VO ID / Darpan ID

    MH/2017/0179381

  • 12A

    49770-A

  • 80G

    CIT(E)/80G/2538/(2017-18)/2018-19

  • FCRA

    083781645

  • CSR Registration Number

    Not Available

Location

  • Headquarters

    10/11, Building No. 34/A, Natwar Parekh Compound, GM Link Rd. Govandi West, Mumbai, 400043

    Directions
  • Offices in Cities

Other Details

  • Type & Sub Type

    Non-profit
    Section 8 (formerly Section 25)