11th October 2025, marked by the United Nations, is International Day of the Girl Child, a day to recognise girls’ rights and the challenges girls face around the world as we work together towards Gender Equality, one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during their formative years but also as they mature into women. If effectively supported and educated, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers.
Improving Gender Equality through the Good Period Programme
At African Adventures Foundation, we are working towards improving gender quality through education, ensuring both equal opportunity for girls and boys to reach their full potential at school.
In April, African Adventures Foundation received generous funding from the Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity to purchase reusable sanitary kits and provide menstrual health education, enabling us to launch the Good Period Programme in Ghana through our partnership with Live Right Ghana, who is our regular supplier of sanitary pads.
The aim of the Good Period Programme is to equip girls with the knowledge and products they need to confidently manage their menstrual health, helping them to stay in school and receive a full, equitable education.
Woe EP School
Through the funding, we have been able to expand support to a further 165 girls by launching the Good Period Programme at Woe EP School.
Each girl has received two pairs of underwear, six reusable sanitary pads, a face towel, and a bar of soap, as well as a Menstrual Health Management (MHM) workshop, delivered by specialist nurses.
We spoke to Feustina, Teacher and School Coordinator at Woe EP School, about the impact the Good Period Programme has had on the students at Woe EP School.
“The Good Period Project is amazing; the teaching of how to keep the pads clean and how to clean themselves, it was all very educational. The girls are now in school regularly, they don’t stay at home during their period. Before the programme, the girls were timid, but now they are much more confident and bolder in talking. They used to mock each other because of their stains but not anymore. The MHM sessions were great, they took the time during the sessions to ask so many questions and talk about other topics, the trainer was so patient and taught them a lot.
This programme has really helped the girls, one of the girls was complaining that her mother wanted to stop providing the disposable pads as she said she wasn’t gaining anything from it, and it cost too much money. All she does is throw the pad away. This programme has now allowed her to stay in school, be present and not worry about asking her mum for pads. The girls feel much more at ease now, not only at school but also in the community. They are speaking about it in the community and sharing the lessons too. With these reusable pads, they now don’t have to depend on anyone for money to provide. Before, some of the girls were sleeping with boys to get money so they could buy pads”.
Bertina, a student at Woe E.P. added:
“Because of this programme I am now able to come to school on time. I don’t need to be absent from school again for fear of staining my skirt. I don’t feel any irritation anymore compared to the disposable ones; I left it longer to change the disposable pads, as I couldn’t afford to get more disposable pads.”
At African Adventures, we aim to achieve a more sustainable future for all through our work, and we are committed to driving 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including gender equality, which is essential to ensure global progression. Through African Adventures Foundations’ programmes and the work our volunteers carry out, our goal is to empower children through education and give them a chance of a better future.
To support our Good Period Programme to help us provide more girls with reusable sanitary kits, please donate here.
