Uncharted Red Waters​

Give Bangladesh Foundation’s new project titled ‘Uncharted Red Waters: Exploring Menstrual Equity of Selected Marginalized Communities in Bangladesh Through Policy and Action’ has been awarded the ‘Share-Net International Knowledge Activation Grants 2024’ in the knowledge translation category. The project will run for nine months from February to October 2024. Find our project on Share-Net International’s website- https://share-netinternational.org/newsblogs/2024-grantee-cohort/ .

The project addresses the menstrual needs and challenges of marginalized communities in Bangladesh, which are often overlooked and left out when we discuss the challenges and development needs of these communities, resulting in a phenomenon we term as ‘marginalization inside marginalization’. This phenomenon is leading to rising menstrual inequity inside the country and we aim to combat this issue in the project through research and policy advocacy. We have selected four marginalized communities with unique menstrual needs and challenges inside Bangladesh, namely- brothel-based sex workers, bede (nomadic community), tea garden workers, and visually impaired individuals for this project. 

The project consists of three key components- research and data collection; policy advocacy; and social media awareness campaign. The team will first work on creating a research report that documents the menstrual practices, needs, and challenges of the marginalized communities through primary data collection. The findings from the report will then be used to prepare a policy brief which will identify and analyze the possible reforms needed in “National Menstrual Hygiene Strategy 2021” to address the menstrual inequity faced by the marginalized communities. The research report and the policy brief will be disseminated in a national policy dialogue where the team along with selected representatives from the marginalized communities will advocate for policy reforms, research, and action for menstrual equity to relevant policymakers, development practitioners, and researchers. Additionally, throughout the project, the team will work on raising public awareness on ensuring menstrual equity of marginalized communities through a comprehensive social media campaign.