Campaign to provide water sanitation and menstrual hygiene awareness to Indian girls and children
HEEALS needs support to deliver its innovative WASH campaign to 33,111 girls and children in 5 States of India over a 3 month-period. The cost of the campaign is minimal in comparison to the impact it could have but HEEALS still needs to reach its fundraising target of $6,200 to make it a reality.
The need for a campaign
India is the open defecation capital of the world with 638 million people defecating in the open. People have more mobile phones and easier access to banks than toilets.
66 % of girls’ schools do not have functioning girl toilets in India resulting in a drop out rate of more than 40% of girls after finishing year 5. Around 23 % Girls drop out of school every year in India due to lack of menstrual hygiene facilities including toilets or adequate disposal units for sanitary pads.
Around 1,000 children die every day in India because of diarrhoea. This figure equals the number of children dying due to Aids, measles and malaria combined. More than half of the Indian population do not wash their hands after defecation, making respiratory and gastrointestinal infections major killers among children and adults alike.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Girls and women are the major victims of these issues, suffering health problems, economic disparity, sexual violence, harassment and much more.
What we want to do
We plan to create awareness amongst the masses about sanitation, menstrual hygiene, toilets and unsafe drinking water, and its effect on girls’ education and health.
We particularly want to target those living in rural areas, urban slums, refugee camps and orphanages. Alongside the awareness campaign, we also want to ensure that communities are equipped to tackle these issues, by providing toilets in the areas most at risk, and by providing things such as water purification tablets, water tanks, soap and sanitary napkins.
How we work
We use a behaviour change process approach involving four steps:
- WASH games (specifically designed games relating to sanitation and hygiene)
- Process demonstration (demonstration of hand washing process and of organising sanitary pads at home)
- Super WASH drama
- Facilitation of supplies such as soaps, sanitary pads and hand WASH stations
All the funds generated from this campaign go directly to the implementation of the project to provide awareness and basic necessities to schools, orphanages and refugee camps.
About HEEALS
HEEALS is a non-profit organisation registered under the Indian Government societies act 21 of 1860. It is a vibrant civil society organisation which aims to safeguard health, environment, education and livelihood to promote the sustainable development of society. Based in Gurgaon Delhi NCR, we comprise a group of six individuals working semi-voluntarily to improve the sanitation and hygiene conditions of girls and children in general, in India.
"Educating a Girl About Sanitation and Hygiene is Educating and Making The Whole Nation Healthy"
Visit our website: www.heeals.org to find out more about our work, our innovative communication tools, for information on how to donate to our campaign or to find out about other ways in which you can help.