In 2016, with the help of a local sewing guild in Northbrook, Illinois and local Illinois Churches, a Days for Girls Enterprise was established in the newly built Women’s Center. Without feminine hygiene products, girls miss school one week a month – and are thus less well educated than boys: women can’t work resulting in less food for the family. You can find out more about the work of Days for Girls International (DfG) by clicking here.
Sewing machines were donated & supplies taken to Toliara to enable the local women to make the kits themselves. So there is the double benefit of getting DfG kits to women and girls, and providing employment too.
Overseas visitors to Madagascar can buy kits in advance ready to distribute to local women and girls, and local people can order directly in ariary.
It is wonderful to see the transformation as the girls and women discover why they menstruate and how the cycle works – even sharing the DfG card information in the Cathedral after the morning service! Tantely (who is the one explaining) was so inspired by all this that she is now training as a midwife.
We produced the DfG Ambassador for Women’s Health flipcharts in Malagasy, which have greatly facilitated the teaching process.
In 2018, we used the flipcharts to train 35 women to teach DfG health and hygiene lessons, and explain the benefits of these washable feminine hygiene kits.
The women practised what they had learned by going to 13 churches and villages, 6 medical clinics and 1 school, where women and girls listened very attentively and were very excited if they won kits in the free raffle.
However, the poorest women and girls cannot afford to pay the full cost price of the kits – even though the price is very reasonable and the kit lasts for at least three years. You can donate to the Diocese to enable us to give kits to those in need.
Rev. Nolavy is Assistant Coordinator for the Women’s Center and DfG, and as such supervises the DfG work, including where distributions are to made and working on how to best market the kits.
Ms. Harisoa supervises the DfG sewing and keeps the accounting records for both DfG and all the other activities which take place in the Women’s Center.
In 2021 the women achieved DfG Gold Standard certification, and succeeded in their recertification in 2024. To get this certification, the women had to prove that they sew their kits to the exacting requirements of DfG; know the Ambassador for Women’s Health health and hygiene teaching material, and keep good records of accounts and distributions of kits.
Being Gold Standard certified means that individuals and NGOs wanting to order DfG kits to distribute in Madagascar can now place orders on the Days for Girls International website for kits to be sewn by the Enterprise. Visitors to the country can place orders to distribute themselves or provide financial support for the Enterprise to do so on their behalf. Local trainers can be hired from the Enterprise to teach health and hygiene material at the kit distributions.
This Enterprise has not only given the Malagasy women ways to financially support themselves and their families, it has also given them a purpose. We thank God for this!
If you want to know more about Days for Girls, please complete the form below.
If you would like to purchase a DfG kit, you can find the price list for kits here, and an order form below.
If you want to place an order, please download the order form, complete it and send either a photo or scan of the completed form as an attachment to this email address.
Donations can be made to help the work of the Days for Girls Enterprise from the USA or from the UK