COVID-19 has led many organizations to recommend that employees work from home in order to contain the transmission of the virus. For many youth-led organizations like us, remote work is a new reality with new challenges to learn from and opportunities for success. We were initially afraid that remote working would feel like a solo experience, that the interaction with others might have been lost completely, but we have seen that creativity and team-based problem solving is still possible while we work away from each other. As an organization, we have been very intentional about developing an operational plan that creates a supportive environment that allows staff and volunteers to go about their work life in a new way that fosters positive shifts and growth in both their personal and career advancement.
Consequently, the organization has scored quite a number of successes with regards to promoting sexual reproductive health and rights for young people by deliberately engaging with them on various platforms that still allow the dissemination of health information in a very easy, faster, and effective way, while observing all regulations that have been provided by the Ministry of Health and their supporting partners. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the young people we serve, we have been working not only on social media platforms but on traditional media platforms such as radio and print for those young people in rural communities. While we are confident that flexibility is one of our best abilities, we acknowledge that there has been a lot of change for many institutions. We are positive that things will get back to normal soon and that a “new normal” has many opportunities for new and better ways of engagement.
Menstrual Hygiene Marathon Highlights
May 28th is Menstrual Hygiene Day, this day is dedicated to bringing awareness around the vital role that good menstrual hygiene management plays in empowering women and adolescent girls to become more confident and proud about who they are and what they can possibly become in life. The vision behind Menstrual Hygiene Day is a world in which every woman and adolescent girl is able to manage her menstruation in a hygienic way, and with dignity. On this important day, nonprofits, government agencies, the private sector, the media, and individuals come together to commemorate Menstrual Hygiene Day and advocate for the importance of good menstrual hygiene management. Unfortunately, this year’s commemoration was disturbed by the novel Coronavirus 2019 which has negatively left impact across all spheres of life.
However, despite social and economic activities somewhat coming to a standstill due to Covid-19, the importance of Menstrual Hygiene Day to women and adolescent girls could not be overlooked. As a result, this year’s commemoration focused on delivering a message that menstruation is a continuous process under the theme; “menstruation does not stop for pandemics”. The adopted theme highlights the urgency for the collective work needed to both change the negative social norms surrounding menstruation, and also speed up progresses toward empowering women and girls to unlock their educational and economic prospects which are key in personal growth, and progress community development.
Menstrual Hygiene Management Webinar
With the ban of public gatherings by national health experts due to the coronavirus pandemic, we organized a successful menstrual hygiene management webinar that brought together different health practitioners and advocate with extensive knowledge and experience to discuss the various aspects of Menstrual Hygiene comprehensively from products, sanitation, policy, accessibility and availability.
Our webinar had over 100 registered attendees and had speakers from various partners working on menstrual health in Zambia. From the ministry of health, we had Dr Matildah Kakungu Simpungwe, the assistant director for adolescent health. Ms. Kasweka Chinyama from ministry of general education, Ms.Nelly Kanjele from PACT Zambia and Ms. Mwangala Mulundana from SNV.
In case you missed it, you can watch this webinar on our YouTube channel here:
