Project Konna
Project Konna is an initiative of Give Bangladesh Foundation. The project focuses on poverty-stricken regions where menstruation is considered a taboo, with the social stigma contributing to health problems of women in the community.
Through Project Konna, we are working to ensure that the women living in the rural areas of Bangladesh are aware of and have access to a safe menstrual hygiene management system. We are focused on reducing school dropouts- absence of adolescent girls and mitigating reproductive health problems of marginalised women as a result of the natural cycle of menstruation.
Our goals are to:
- Reduce the rate of school dropout due to menstruation.
- Reduce the rate of women’s health issues due to poor menstrual hygiene management.
- Reduce stigma among the underprivileged, disadvantaged, and marginalized populations by increasing knowledge and understanding of menstrual hygiene and reproductive health.
To achieve our objectives, we take workshops in underprivileged schools & madrasahs to teach students about menstruation and menstrual hygiene. We familiarize them with the use of sanitary napkins and provide with our very own free emergency menstruation kit named “Apuni”, so that the adolescent girls can have unrestricted access to sanitary napkins within their school when they experience menstruation for the very first time.
We also arrange free medical camps for women living in the remote areas (for example, tea gardens, Rohingya camps) to provide treatment for diseases caused by poor menstrual hygiene management and in tandem we take separate workshops during the medical camps to educate them about taking care of themselves during menstruation. Additionally, we provide them with access to reusable, washable sanitary napkins which are eco-friendly and can be used for 12 to 15 months at a stretch. Through our latest campaigns, we are striving to aware sex workers & low income women of Northern region- numbering in 2000 odd, through arranging ToT & subsequent Premise Meeting (Uthan Baithak) by local empowered women. Another campaign named “Duhita” installs emergency hygiene corner (Including Sanitary Napkin, tissue, medicines etc) in underprivileged madrasahs & schools.
