Help Her Rise: Your Support Ends Period Poverty and Provides Economic Empowerment to Rural Women

"Didi, before attending your sessions, I used just one pad for the entire day during my periods." This heartfelt statement from a girl in our partner schools highlights a grim reality that extends beyond her individual experience.

The statistics speak for themselves:

• 1 in 5 girls in India drop out of school as soon as they get their first period.
• 71% of Indian girls are unaware of menstruation until it happens to them.
• 50% of girls lack access to hygienic menstrual products.

This is simply known as Period Poverty. Watch our 2 minutes video to understand more about Project SwaNari. Click here.

Period poverty refers to the inability to afford and access menstrual products, sanitation and hygiene facilities and education and awareness to manage menstrual health. Simply put, it costs women and girls far too much—yet it doesn’t have to be this way.

Menstrual hygiene remains a significant challenge in India. Unfortunately, menstruation is often a taboo topic, leading to a lack of open discussion at both family and policy levels. This silence obscures the true scale of the problem and its devastating impacts.

The causes of Period Poverty are multifaceted: social, cultural, economic, and educational barriers restrict access and affordability of sanitary materials.

On an average, a woman uses 10-12 pads in a month, which costs her 700-850 Rs annually. However, in flood-prone areas like Supaul district of Bihar, socio-economic challenges are severe. The average monthly income for a household of seven is nearly INR 8,000–10,000, and with men often migrating to other cities for work, women are left to manage the household on half that income. For these families, spending a substantial amount on menstrual products becomes an overwhelming financial burden, making menstrual hygiene products a luxury for many families. Lacking affordable options, numerous women and girls resort to unsafe alternatives, such as using mud, cow dung, or leaves, risking their health and future. The absence of clean, safe menstrual products not only hampers their education but also limits their potential. This ongoing ignorance surrounding menstruation has long been detrimental to the health and dignity of women.

But we believe in the power of women to drive change. Our model operates at the intersection of livelihood, health, and education—a tested and proven approach.

Our project supports 100 women from marginalised communities like Dalits and Musahars by forming Self-Health Groups (SHGs). These groups will manufacture low-cost, eco-friendly, reusable cloth sanitary napkins, ensuring access to safe menstrual products for themselves, their daughters, and all women of reproductive age (15-49 years of age).

The SHG women will manufacture, pack, and distribute/market the Menstrual Kits initially for women and girls of Supaul district. Each kit will contain 4 sanitary napkins for different kinds of flow, usage and care pamphlets, menstrual management awareness materials, and soaps. This kit is reusable for more than a year, reducing the average expense on menstrual products by over 40-50%.

Also, income generated by SHGs will be distributed among SHG members, directly benefiting their livelihoods.

With your support, we can:

• Train 100 SHG women
• Manufacture and distribute over 100,000 eco-friendly reusable sanitary napkins
• Educate 300,000 women and girls on proper menstrual management
• Create, nurture, and empower women leaders in the community
• Increase the use of sanitary napkins and reduce monthly costs by 40-50%
• And most of all……Lift 100 families out of poverty by increasing their monthly income by 30-50% 

You can be a part of this transformative change by supporting us with:

• INR 25,000 will reduce menstrual health expenses for 100 women and girls and help break the cycle of period poverty.
• INR 2500 will reduce menstrual health expenses for 10 women/girls and help break the cycle of period poverty.
• INR 1100 to educate 50 women and girls on menstrual health.
• INR 500 will help produce 2 menstrual kits.

Your support isn’t just about providing sanitary napkins; it’s about restoring dignity, improving health, and enabling economic empowerment in one of the poorest socio-economic districts of India.

Join us in making this a reality and be part of our vision: “Empowering Lives Everywhere.”

To learn more about our female-centric work, visit https://www.zealgrit.org/.