Akwannya Combating Period Poverty in Ghana
Akwannya is an Enactus project at Durham University. Enactus is a global non-profit organization of students, academics, and business leaders to support social impact and social enterprise. The Akwannya team was founded in 2020 with 4 team members.
The primary objective of this non-profit sustainable period project is to tackle period poverty in rural Ghana. Without access to sanitary products, around 95% of the girls in the outskirts of Ghana are forced to remain at home every month. That entails serious consequences as it stops girls from receiving their education, depriving them of opportunities to develop and improve.
Akwannya aims to remove menstruation as a barrier for schoolgirls and give them menstrual independence. By teaching girls how to produce their own reusable sanitary pads, they no longer have to depend on anyone during menstruation as they become self-sufficient.
Tia Bhatia, project leader, and founder explained they were originally planned to make fabric out of bamboo to create menstrual pads. Unfortunately, due to requirement of a lot of machinery and its high cost, they now seek donations of fabrics from locals with the help of of the Millennium Child Support Group, a humanitarian relief organisation based in Kumasi, Ghana. The collections of donated fabrics would then be transported to the Kumasi region, where schoolgirls in government schools are taught by the Support Group how to make sanitary pads. Teachers in the government school are also trained to carry out mass production of pads to be sent to the girls in need. Salary would be given to those who are involved in production of sanitary pads as an incentive to bring forward this movement. This initiative provides an alternative solution to the use of non-reusable sanitary pads, which is considered a luxury good in Ghana.
“On average, one uses 15 to 20 tampons per month. If you multiply it to twelve months, it would be more than 200 tampons, which creates so much plastic” said Tia. About 5 reusable sanitary pads made by Awwannya last up to 3 years which saves a lot on plastic wastage. Tia Bhatia explained, “they tend to burn the used pads or tampons”. She foresees the obvious of cutting down carbon emission by 0.56 tons per capita with this substitution, to work towards Ghana’s commitment to unconditionally lower greenhouse gas emissions by 15% in 2030.
Another major incentive is to destigmatize and tackle issues surrounding menstrual health. “We hope to engage boys into the project to remove the stigma. Also, to build public toilets close to schools where proper bins are located.”Girls would hopefully feel more comfortable going to school during the time of the month with less discrimination and more availability of sanitary pads.
Although, the team have encountered difficulties due to Covid-19 and have not been able to recruit volunteers as scheduled. They have been recording short production videos and putting together menstrual booklets to assist the schoolgirls in learning to make reusable sanitary pads. With the help of the Millennium Child Support Group, the team is looking to launch its project in July 2021 after the Education Ministry in Ghana approves of the project. The team would then contact government schools and their teachers and provide trainings via zoom and other recordings. When the pandemic eases, the team hopes to recruit more volunteers to take regular trips to Ghana for servicing.
The article stems from an interview with Tia Bhatia, the project leader and founder of Akwannya. For more information about Akwannya, please visit their instagram @akwannya.durham
By Ottilie Cheung