New Delhi: Mrida Group, a social enterprise working with Base of the Pyramid and underserved rural communities, is partnering with Pee Safe to provide menstrual cups, free of cost, to rural women. The distribution of products will be preceded by a workshop to create awareness about safe & hygienic menstrual practices.
The workshops aim to educate the women on the necessity of hygienic behaviour during menstruation – which includes providing the women with information about affordable, accessible & safe sanitary products. The public fundraising campaign on the Donatekart website allows people to purchase Pee Safe’s menstrual cups, which will then be provided to partner NGOs/ social enterprises for distribution – one of which is Mrida.
The menstrual cups will be distributed in villages around Bareilly & Sultanpur in U.P and Bokaro in Jharkhand.
The fundraising campaign will run over a week where people can donate a minimum of one cup. Post the campaign, workshops in the villages will be conducted over two months (February and March 2020) which will focus on health and hygiene, the biology of menstruation & safe period practices. By providing the women with the menstrual cups (free of cost), Mrida is securing their menstrual health for the next 5 years or more.
“Health and Hygiene are two of our focal areas in the rural communities that we operate in. Team Mrida has been conducting periodic workshops with rural women on issues that impact them the most and we are happy to be partnering with Pee Safe in introducing their products to rural women. We have been focusing on sustainable products and that is what the menstrual cup is: it eliminates monthly spends on sanitary products, alleviates the concern of disposal & is the most environment friendly menstrual product in the market,” says Ms. Gurveen Sood, Co-Founder and Director, Mrida Group.
Menstruation is still a taboo subject in most parts of India and it is estimated that only 12% of all women across India (Urban and Rural) use Sanitary Pads. A large number of rural girls dropout of school on hitting puberty due to issues related to menstruation and the lack of availability of hygienic products. Most women in rural communities still use cloth or leaves for their periods and are either unaware of the products available, have not been educated on the need for menstrual hygiene or are unable to use them due to high costs. Infections are 70% more common in women who do not have sanitary ways of managing their menstrual cycles.
“We are happy to collaborate with Donatekart & Mrida Group towards ensuring better hygiene for women in the rural areas. While menstrual cups may be a new concept for women, we are sure that with some awareness generation, we can help them see the advantages of using this product. Apart from the fact that they help in avoiding infections caused due to lack of period hygiene from using cotton or cloth, menstrual cups are also economical — since they last for many years. This collaboration is therefore a reaffirmation of Pee Safe’s commitment to ensuring better health for women and providing alternatives that are sustainable and environment friendly”, says Mr. Vikas Bagaria, Founder, Pee Safe.
The Pee Safe Menstrual cup is made from 100% medical grade silicone and is US FDA approved – ensuring that a safe product is distributed to those at the Bottom of the Pyramid.
The link to the campaign for donation of the Menstrual Cups went live on 21st of January and will be live for a week. The link for making a donation for this campaign is: https://www.donatekart.com/special/MCDD/menstrual-cup
About Donatekart:
Donatekart is India’s most reliable crowd funding platform for raising products. Donatekart has won many awards such as 40 under 40, Nasscom Social Innovation Award and more in the last 3 years since its inception. Incubated by T-Hub, Hyderabad and Zone Startups, Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai, Donatekart is the first of a kind platform that enables donors to directly donate products to NGOs/charities online instead of money. Up until now, we have been able to help 650+ NGOs all over India raise close to 9 crores worth of products. 80,000+ unique donors have used our platform to donate to charities/social initiatives of their choice.
About Pee Safe:
Pee Safe is India’s leading personal hygiene brand helping India to fight health issues brought on by unhygienic conditions in washrooms.
About Mrida:
As a Social Business Venture, the Mrida Groups seeks to build business models that provide holistic and sustainable development opportunities to remote underserved communities and small and marginal farmers at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Since commencing business operations in February 2014, Mrida has worked on a variety of initiatives with individuals, village level entrepreneurs, self-help-groups, rural communities, and Corporate entities. Mrida already has 40+ projects on-ground, many of these projects in remote, difficult to access areas and with underserved communities. Mrida projects provide energy access, facilitate education, are an important tool for women empowerment, facilitate livelihood opportunities, better agricultural yields, etc. Mrida has been partnering with leading business houses in India for integrated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
For more information, please visit: http://www.mridagroup.com/ and www.facebook.com/mriadassociates