PROJECT SUMMARY

This proposal serves to introduce the mega-project of developing a self-sustainable ecosystem for menstrual hygiene in the rural areas of Jorhat, Assam- including setting up a rural production unit for producing affordable high quality sanitary napkins and providing easy access to sanitary napkins through vending machines as well as ensuring easy and safe disposal through setting up incineration units.

Key propositions:

- This initiative is a part of the Women Empowerment project of PATHIK and the organization would be recruiting, training and employing rural women and enabling them to run their own self-sustainable livelihood project, called SHREEMOYEE.

- There are three components to Project SHREEMOYEE, setting-up a sanitary napkin manufacturing set-up, installation of sanitary napkin vending machines in schools and community centers and incinerators to ensure safe and hygienic disposal of soiled napkins. We are seeking to create a 360 degree holistic and financially and environmentally sustainable value-chain.

- The set-up to manufacture napkins will be installed in the building space of PATHIK in Jorhat.

- As part of this intervention, we seek to provide livelihoods to rural women and girls in Assam and provide access to affordable and high-quality sanitary napkins to the rural population.

The Aim of the project is to contribute to PATHIK’s attempts to create a sustainable community-led model to promote women’s access to menstrual hygiene awareness and production of low cost, compostable sanitary pads in rural Assam, ensure a robust distribution network of women and also deploy a disposal mechanism.