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The Course Overview
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SIMpowering

SIMpowering, formerly known as PERIOD. is an initiative created to eradicate period poverty and empower young girls and women globally!

 

We at SIMpowering believe that it is a fundamental right for every girl and woman to have access to menstrual hygiene products. We envision a world where women have access to equal opportunities. We strive to empower women around the globe through education, communication and raising awareness about period poverty, discrimination and gender inequality.

 

In many parts of today’s world, the stigma surrounding menstruation has deprived young girls of proper education and has stripped away the opportunities awaiting them. The lack of awareness and ignorance surrounding periods has proved detrimental to young girls' and women’s mental and physical health. Poor menstrual hygiene can pose health risks.

We aim to ensure that women and young girls around the world have adequate knowledge of their bodies and are able to address issues related to menstrual health openly.

We wish to bridge this gap by spreading awareness and educating young girls and women about menstrual health, further we aim to make menstrual hygiene products more affordable and accessible to women and young girls. By doing this we intend to eliminate negative gender norms and bridge the gap in gender equality. Our focused purpose is to make sure that we have a lasting impact, not only dependent on the SIM presence and the group performance. Above all, we believe that gender equality comes in small steps, and working towards women’s rights, female literacy and employment eventually lead to less poverty and more education, thus working toward less period poverty and the breakdown of the period stigma.

SIMpowering, previously known as Period, was founded in 2020, its first initiative was to implement the “1 Million Cup Campaign”, with the aim to distribute one million menstrual cups in Zimbabwe through a partnership with the Menstrual Health Experts Fund. The following year, we pursued a collaboration with the independent NGO Femme International, through which we attempted to develop educational workshops and distribute menstrual products in Kenya. However, later, we opted for a local initiative focused on sensitising the local HSG community towards the issue of period poverty, by providing free menstrual products in HSG’s female bathrooms.

The primary focus of the initiative and historically the main focus of all actions initiated by the organization was to focus on period poverty and eradicating the stigma around periods in society. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG goals) which this SIMagination Challenge was originally working on were Good Health and Well-being (number 3) and Gender Equality (number 5).

While this has led to a number of projects which have impacted women and their communities across Africa as well as on campus directly, we would like to broaden the general topic to gender equality (rather than strictly focusing on period poverty) in order to establish strong partnerships, benefitting the SIM Community and local communities sustainably. Therefore, the additional SDG goals which we aim to include in our project reach are Reduced Inequalities (number 10), Quality Education (number 4) and No Poverty (number 1).

  • We are a group of six SIM students who haven taken over PERIOD., a health-focused, non-profit initiative that was founded in 2019 by four of our predecessors at SIM.
  • Too many women and girls in Kenya and Tanzania lack the financial means for and access to sustainable and sanitary menstruation products, causing them to stay at home and drop out of school or lose their employment.
  • At PERIOD. we pursue the mission of combatting period poverty inthese two East African countries by providing all girls and women with access to safe and affordable products, educate them on how to use them and breaking down the menstrual taboo.
  • To achieve our goals and ensure the initiative’s self-sustaining nature for future generations, we have joined forces with the independent NGO Femme International, whom we support in the development of their social business with fundraising and our operational skills, knowledge, and resources. The social business will be a revenue-generating, non-profit entity to guarantee Femme International’s independence from extensive future fundraising.  
  • All of the the products we distribute with Femme International are sourced locally to ensure our expenditures benefit the local economy. 
  • The workshops are held by well-educated health professionals and community members to ensure their credibility and facilitate the establishment of trust from the women and girls we support.
  • Our initiative promotes five UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), including the UNSDG 3 on good health, UNSDG 4 on quality education, UNSDG 5 on gender equality, UNSDG 10 on reducing inequality and UNSDG 12 on responsible consumption.
  • We are cooperating with the Menstrual Health Experts Fund to implement the 1 Million Cup Campaign aiming to distribute 1 Million menstrual cups in Zimbabwe.
  • A buy one / send one model is already in place for sustainable funding.
  • We work on additional fundraising, optimizing the web presences, and designing the campaign.
  • Our partner has significant on-the-ground experience and carried out several studies on up-take and health impact of menstrual cups.

Current Team

Chief of Finance
Guilherme dos Santos (PRT)

Public Relationships Coordinator
Yiang Gao (CHINA)

NGO Ambassador
Karen Feleshia (IND)

Corporate Relationships
Clara Lehmann (FRA/GER)

Executive Directors
Sophie Paci (FRA/GER/GBR)
Simon Zelmanowicz (FRA)

Chief of Marketing
Mariana Araya (CRI)

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