Meet the taboo busting young problem solvers tackling sustainable menstruation and menstrual hygiene

It’s a Problem, Period is an eight-member student organisation from Delhi Public School Bangalore North consisting of Anoushka, Krithi, Harshada, Khushi, Maliha, Adhira, Shraddha and Niketha. These Solve Ninja’s aim is to promote sustainable menstruation, overcome stigma around menstruation and improve access to sustainable menstrual products for women and girls of menstruating age from rural and urban areas. The team has shared their learnings with us.

Beginning and Journey

Initially, as the Reap Benefit programme began, we looked at the problem at a very surface level and our understanding of the situation was very shallow - students were not wrapping their pads, so we thought we would just put newspaper in the washrooms. When we began the process of investigating, however, our motivation took a turn for the better. A major driving force was the cleaning staff and attenders of our school - when we talked to them firsthand and discovered the grievances they were facing - things like having to pick up these bloody pads with their bare hands without cleaning equipment, dealing with insensitive students, and similar things they were forced to deal with - it spurred us to action quite like nothing else.

Above all, the dignity of labour is paramount- these women were instrumental in the smooth functioning of our school, and they deserved to be treated with the utmost respect.

Also seeing the ignorant attitude of our school’s girls really bothered us. We thought that ultimately the means to our ends of reducing menstrual waste as a whole that was impacting the environment so severely was to change the mindsets of people. We also were greatly encouraged by our beloved principal, Mrs Manju Balasubramanyam, who supported us every step of the way and enabled us to do a lot of things we could not have on our own.

It all started in the month of August 2019 when we were first introduced to Reap Benefit, where we first came up with the simple problem statement of tackling the disposal of menstrual waste in our school itself. Our first step towards finding a solution was to interview the cleaning staff and the female students. To enhance our understanding of the situation at hand, we conducted controlled experiments through which we came up with two solutions: to stock newspapers in the girl’s washroom and have incinerators (it reduces the pads to sterile ash that can be flushed down the toilet and it also does not produce harmful gases) installed on all floors. At this point, we realised that we can reduce the overall waste produced, by encouraging the female population of our school to shift to sustainable menstrual products. And so we started conducting assemblies for not only the students (girls of grades 6th-12th) but also the teachers, cleaning staff and bus attenders. In these sessions, we encountered different kinds of reservations each group had. Girls from the 8th to the 12th grade enjoyed our presentations after initial awkwardness and began to share their stories. Some were embarrassed at the prospect of discussing their own anatomy, while later some went on to say that they were having difficulty convincing their mothers to let them use menstrual cups. With the teachers, we found that many were reluctant as they believed that they were simply too old to try new things and were hesitant to step out of their comfort zones.

We were most sceptical with our presentation to the staff - changing their mindsets and seeming relatable seemed like a difficult task. But we were pleasantly surprised when we found that they were more open minded than the students themselves and were far more responsible in the disposal of their menstrual waste.

Most were eager to see what we had in store for them.

We had volunteer groups from each grade consisting of socially responsible girls who helped us out by stocking newspapers and conducting surveys in their respective grades. These girls will carry on our legacy even after we graduate. One of our biggest achievements was when we were funded by the Principal and Vice-Principal to provide menstrual cups and cloth pads to the cleaning staff and bus attenders of our school.

What we learned

During the course of our initiative, we learned many invaluable lessons. The biggest of which being perseverance. With pressure from school and family, keeping the project going was a challenge, to say the least, but giving up was like letting go of the smiling faces of the people we impacted. We also learned the importance of communication and teamwork. Teamwork can be challenging with a big group of energetic and driven girls with a swarm of ideas. Differences did arise but working through it to settle on the right solution was key to our functioning. Communicating among the group as well as with people outside was an important task for us to make sure our project ran smoothly. To tackle this we’d spend every lunch break and PE period discussing whilst preparing newspapers for the washrooms.

We’ve learnt that to effectively solve a problem you must understand what the people affected by the problem really need, and not just assume you know what they need.

We learnt that change comes from within and more motivation comes when you see the people you’re working for benefit from your solutions. No positive change is little. While some might say that too many cooks spoil the broth, it’s only made ours richer. Teamwork makes the dream work and each member has their own skill set which makes it easy to divide roles and make the best of any task. Getting the valuable inputs of our dear principal and vice-principal, Manju Ma’am and Renu Ma’am, mentors and peers was insightful, to say the least, and we value any feedback we get. Learning is a huge gift we’ve had the privilege to have.

Covid Ninjas

When the lockdown was announced pads were not included in the list of essential commodities and were only included in the second one after public and media pressure.

This acute shortage has caused a lot of grievances to menstruating women. As part of our efforts even during the lockdown, we began a fundraiser to provide cloth pad kits to women who were in need of them during these difficult times. We partnered with an organisation called Paint It Red, which is sending cloth pad kits that lasts 3–4 years to states all over the country. In the coming weeks, we are getting 2500 kits delivered to many districts in North Karnataka, where period poverty is rampant. We are also getting a number of kits for the at-risk women here in the city. Thus far, we have raised above 1 lakh in funds for this endeavour.

To make even more of a difference from home, we conducted a webinar for about 40 women, from different age groups, on sustainable Menstrual products, why it’s a good idea to switch to them, menstrual hygiene, and have an overall discussion on how we can be more responsible while menstruating.

We made it an interactive session with many women sharing their experiences and opinions! During the webinar, a journalist from News4Kids who attended requested to cover our story which can be read here.

Next Steps

In the following months, we hope to partner with NGOs and corporations who share a similar goal of a sustainable future. We would also like to conduct more webinars, hold fundraisers and make the most out of working from home. We want to set up SHGs in rural areas where women can make cloth pads and act as our representatives for overcoming stigma. We also want to bring sustainable menstrual products to the mainstream market in urban areas.

As we are in 12th grade, our last year of schooling and being together, we aim to do as much as we can before we all go our different ways, making sure to propagate these practices individually.

To keep track of how these amazing Solve Ninjas are doing, follow them on Instagram and Twitter.