Spotless Dame (बेदाग नारी) - Capacity Building and Environment Friendly Cloth Pad Distribution

Although menstruation is a natural process in a woman’s life, in many parts of Urban and Rural India, young girls and women are expected to sit in a corner at home and not get involved in any kind of activities, struggling to get a clean piece of cloth to manage their period every month. General lack of awareness and poor menstruation practice leads to fungal infection, reproductive and urinary tract infection, vulnerability to infertility, etc.

They are Living in a culture of shame and silence, leading to end up using poor substitutes like Rags and Ash, Leaves, Mud Bags, Newspaper or using nothing leading to sit out at one place.

The challenges faced by girls and women has led Praveenlata Sansthan initiative "SPOTLESS DAME - (बेदाग नारी)  supporting to more than +1.7 Lakh Pads across Rajasthan.

Praveenlata Sansthan has been focusing on 4 E's Education, Employment , Enviornment and Empowerment to underprivileged Young Girls and WOmen

Education: We develop educational resources and work with schools, NGOs, tribal communities, factory workers, manrega Workers, Sex Workers, laborers, slum and street-living women and many more facilitating educational programs that foster a responsible, healthy and dignified menstrual experience for girls and women.who are willing to work to continue their studies by providing them training on making innovative and Environment Friendly Cloth Pads which are naturally anti bacterial with high absorbent capacity which provides sustainable livelihood by empowering women

Employment & Empowerment: We assist marginalized Indian girls and women to earn by stitching reusable washable menstrual pads that helps them become economically empowered to continue their studies as they have previously dropped out of their education due to financial and social barriers.

When you donate to this program, you help women and girls in underprivileged communities get access to reusable cloth pads to manage their periods.

Environment: We produce and promote reusable cloth pads. Our pads are a sustainable menstrual product available for women across India which is cost effective and affordable and saves tons of Plastic Waste

According to a NHFS survey 2015-16,

·      Out of 355 million menstruating girls and women in India only 12% use sanitary napkins.

·      Almost 70% of the girls are not aware of menstruation before their first period.

·      20% of Indian girls drop out of school after reaching puberty

·      28%  of Indian school girls avoid going to school during their period owing to lack of Knowledge

·      An average woman disposes around 150 kg of non-biodegradable waste in a life time.

·      Disposable pads or tampons takes more than 500 to 800 years to decompose in landfill

·      In villages, over 88% girls and women resort to shocking alternatives such as cloth, ashes, and husk during menstruation resulting in health problems.

·      14%  of Indian girls reportedly suffer from menstrual infections owing to lack of hygienic sanitary products

"Sugna's Step to use a Cloth to Manage her periods Safely with Dignity changed her life"

Sugna Married 13, got her periods for the first time at her inlaws house. Coming from a Backward Tribal Community and Poor Family with no female in her house except her husband who worked in mines and father in law who was a drunkard. She got scared to tell thinking that she is infected by a disease and should not talk about it .started using dry leaves and Mud bags for managing to stop the blood. Later a week the bleeding stopped but she started having vaginal infection problems. She did not know anything about periods as never heard about it and the fear continued month on month as she started getting mentally sick with the fear of having bleeding every alternative month and sometimes for more than 7 days.

It was during this time when Team Praveenlata Sansthan came in with the initiative Spotless dame to Create Awareness around Menstraution in the remotest part of villages across Rajasthan reached there to conduct training where all the women and girls were invitied by Sarpanch to attend the workshop. She and many others like sugna were not only trained on Menstruation to being a Normal PRocess but also were given by Full Merapad Dignity kit with 4 Reusable Enviornment Friendly Cloth Pads which can be used for 5 Yeras along with 2 Undergarments, 1 Towel and a Soap with Pictorial Hygiene Awarensss Booklet.

This kit changed her life and gave her the freedom to live like a normal girl and understand periods to be a Natural process and understaing the facts of Sexual Reporductive Health.

Women in India's rural areas are struggling for the basic needs of life. A sanitary napkin is the last thing on the minds of most as their priority is family and not their health

Merapad Cloth pads helps a Women to manage her Periods with Dignity and Pride.

It is a solution which is practical, easy to use, and is environment-friendly and saves our enviornment from Plastic Waste.

Your support will help more girls and women like Sugna to get dignity kits to manage their periods with Pride.

We aim to reach out 3000 Women with Merapad Full Dignity Kits Living in Remotest Part of Rajasthan working in Manrega, Fields, Factories, Migrant girls and women to manage their periods with Dignity and Pride.

MeraPad Full Dignity Kits consists of

1. 3 Nos 11 Inch Cloth Pad
2. 1 No 13 Inch Cloth Pad
3. 1 Panty Free Size
4. 1 Towel
5. 1 Soap
6. 1 Pocket Diary with Information from Puberty to Menopause in Local Langauge