Harare, (New Ziana) – A local organization has launched a bi-annual sanitary wear provision programme for orphaned girls as part of efforts to complement the government initiative of providing sanitary pads to female learners.
In his 2020 National Budget, Finance and Economic Development Minister,
Professor Mthuli Ncube provided funds for free sanitary wear for female
learners, initially in rural schools.
“This budget responds comprehensively to the plight of the girl child
in enhancing their dignity.
Based on equity consideration, the proposal is to begin with rural primary and secondary learners from grade four to upper sixth form and a provision of ZWL $200 million has been made under this budget,” he
said then.
In support of the government initiative, a local organization, Grow A
Tree Foundation has come up with a sanitary wear provision programme
specifically for girls housed in orphanages across the country.
Speaking after the first handover ceremony of sanitary pads at Tariro
House of Hope in Harare, the foundation’s director of communications Brian Msuna said the programme was initially targeting orphanages in Harare and would be spread across the country soon.
He said the sanitary provision programme would be done on a bi-annual basis.
“The affordability of sanitary wear is a common problem. Its Christmas and in the spirit of the season we decided to have a different kind of party. We decided to help out where there is need and opted for provisions that will last longer than just this season,” he said.
“These (provisions) will see the girls (at Tariro) through six months of
menstruation.”
Several other initiatives, both private sector led and government led,
have been initiated to lessen the burden of accessing sanitary wear on
underprivileged girls.
On top of the $200 million sanitary wear provision programme, the
government has also allowed duty free importation of the product to
address affordability issues.
But because of the economic challenges currently being experienced,
affordability remains an issue, hence programmes such as the one initiated by Grow A Tree foundation come in handy.
“We have done this to support the government and it is our hope that this will go a long way to ensure that no girl uses unconventional means during their monthly period,” Msuna said.
Grow A Tree foundation is mainly involved in afforestation programmes in Zimbabwe.
New Ziana
