Menstrual Hygiene Day- We are COMMITTED

4 min read
A student from Mringa Primary school washing her hands in a new handwashing facility
Image: WaterAid/Bill Marwa

Since we started in 1983, WaterAid Tanzania has remained resolutely focused on tackling these three essential needs for all human beings by making clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. Without all three, people can’t live dignified, healthy lives. With all three, they can unlock their potential, break free from poverty, and change their lives for good. Children grow up healthy and strong, women and men get to earn a living, and whole communities start to thrive. It sounds normal and it should be.

WaterAid Tanzania is fortunate to have the enthusiastic support of the government of Tanzania and from all walks of life; political perspectives, citizens, donors, advocates, teachers, parents, policy-makers, students, religious leaders, business executives and many other people who understand that a girl child should not be denied her basic right to clean water and sanitation and proper hygiene.

While all this is true, in Tanzania, children's lack of satisfactory sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools and that has a greater negative impact on girls than boys. Girls need safe, clean, separate and private sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools. Adolescent girls are especially vulnerable to dropping out as many are unwilling to continue their schooling since toilets and washing facilities are not private and simply not available.

WaterAid through funding from Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) in partnership and collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Community development, Gender, Elderly, and children implemented a sanitation and hygiene campaign with specific attention to schools and neighboring communities. A total of 20 schools from Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Pwani, Dodoma and Singida, are currently benefitting from “The back-to-school Campaign”.  WaterAid through this project were able to provide different teaching tools and materials to teachers for teaching hygiene education in Mringa Primary school such as a Menstrual Hygiene block which is fully furnished with 4 rooms: resting room, changing room, learning/knowledge room and a health/hygiene teachers office. Apart from this, a handwashing facility was built not so far from the menstrual block and the toilets to enable/ emphasize the behavior of handwashing to students. Similar interventions like this, WaterAid Tanzania will reach 30 schools of Tanzania in Kisarawe district, Pwani region through the financial support from JICA.

A Menstrual hygiene block at Mringa Primary School
A Menstrual hygiene block in Mringa Primary School
Image: WaterAid/Bill Marwa

In these challenging and uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to share where WaterAid stands as an organization. Today, we’re as committed as ever to equity and inclusion for girls, and women and lasting, long-term solutions. We also have a proud tradition of standing up for causes we believe in when they have a direct impact on the communities we serve with water, sanitation and hygiene services.

You can count on us to continue doing what we do best: deliver water, sanitation and hygiene services, strengthen community know-how and advocate for long-term policy success in 28 countries across the globe. You can also count on us to continue our proactive advocacy in support of WASH and initiatives that focus on menstrual health and hygiene to help girls stay in school.

A new handwashing facility at Mringa Primary School
A new handwashing facility at Mringa Primary School
Image: WaterAid/Bill Marwa

Just like you, all of us at WaterAid Tanzania want the very best for our country: a country that is strong in its values and steeped in tradition. As we commemorate this day, we call for the government of Tanzania, donors, development partners, implementing partners and service providers to prioritize hygiene, instead of based on evidence of what does work, let us design hygiene behavior change intervention packages to motivate people by understanding and appealing to what they care about, taking into account the norms and values they share with their wider community most especially girls, let us listen and commit to keeping all girls healthy and at school.

Together, we will keep all girls at school through proper hygiene.

“Through collaboration with other stakeholders we want to make sure that our children who are going to schools are in good environment and infrastructures that will enable and preventing them from infectious diseases and mostly through on the hand-washing habit. But also helping the girl child to maintain her hygiene when they are going through their menstrual periods”

Anna Mzinga – WaterAid Country Director