PadHer

It's Normal, Period!™

PadHer educates and mentors young African schoolgirls from underserved communities on periods, puberty, and SRHR topics using comic books to help them effectively manage their periods and build the confidence they need to take control of the future and succeed. Our comic books come with free pads and are available in 15 widely spoken languages in Africa, including English, French, and Swahili.

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HundrED 2023

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Overview

HundrED has selected this innovation to

HundrED Global Collection 2023

Web presence

2021

Established

9.16K

Children

39

Countries

Target group

Students basic

Updated

August 2023

With PadHer, young girls get free access to menstrual and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights education which is an essential component of a good education that helps prepare them to make informed decisions in a world where HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), early teenage pregnancies, and gender-based violence continue to pose severe threats to their well-being.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

One in 10 girls in Africa miss school during their periods to avoid the embarrassment of bleeding through their uniforms. Many drop out of school altogether once they begin menstruating. Should our young girls miss 20% of school days or drop out due to a lack of information or sanitary products?
The plain answer is NO!
There’s already a lot standing in their way
Periods shouldn’t be one of them!

How does your innovation work in practice?

Talking about Periods should never be boring. To effectively teach periods to young school girls, we have to use a medium they find much more appealing; Comic books!

PadHer is making it free, fun, easy, and comfortable to teach young African schoolgirls from underserved communities about periods and puberty using comic books.

Our comic book series "Girls Only" tells the story of a 12-year-old African schoolgirl Amanda, who just got her first period. The monthly comic series takes us on young Amanda’s journey to better understanding periods and puberty.

Every copy of our free comic book comes with free sanitary pads to help fight against period poverty. PadHer is constantly visiting schools around Africa, distributing our free comic books to young schoolgirls, and engaging them in a one-hour workshop covering key topics related to periods. All for FREE!

At the end of every period workshop, every schoolgirl who participated is given a certification of participation to celebrate her.

How has it been spreading?

PadHer has reached 5 schools and 12 underserved communities in Africa and distributed over 2,000+ print comic books and 7,000+ free reusable sanitary pads. We have impacted over 9,000+ young schoolgirls!

Our Hybrid Model
PadHer operates as a non-profit organization and as a social enterprise.
As a non-profit, PadHer provides innovative ways to educate young African schoolgirls in underserved communities on periods and puberty while making sanitary pads free and accessible.

As a social enterprise, PadHer makes and sells the "Girls Only" comic books and eco-friendly, low-cost reusable sanitary pads. It then uses the profit to help fight period poverty in Africa. Every pad PadHer sells, it donates a free reusable sanitary pad to a young African schoolgirl who can't afford one.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

PadHer is constantly partnering with local NGOs across Africa and visiting schools in underserved communities, where it teaches, mentors, and equips young girls to manage their periods effectively.

Teachers/principals can suggest their school by visiting https://padher.org/suggest/

Our comic books are also available for free download via https://padher.org/download/

Impact & scalability

HundrED Academy Reviews

It is very scalable and especially in a country like mine where girls even today, though belonging to educated and affluent families, are still averse to talking about it. The books can reach a wide audience and can also take in more such topics.

Sexual education in vulnerable communities is not only a work committed to gender equality but an initiative to foster the self-esteem and citizenship of young girls. The comic book can be easily adapted to several cultures/languages.

- Academy member

Academy review results

High Impact
Low Scalability

High Impact
High Scalability

Low Impact
Low Scalability

Low Impact
High Scalability

Media

PadHer partners with over 10 local NGOs, impacts over 7,000 young African schoolgirls!

PadHer shortlisted for the 2022 iF Social Impact Prize.

PadHer's Girls Only comic books now available in 15 widely spoken African languages.

Implementation steps

Workshops

With the aid of our comic book, PadHer offers fun and exciting physical and digital workshops to help prepare young schoolgirls to effectively manage their periods and build the self-confidence they need to take control of the future and succeed. Topics Covered include an introduction to periods, the menstrual cycle, pre-menstrual syndrome, Menstrual Hygiene, and Myth-busting. Our physical workshops are held in schools or community centers, whereas our digital workshops are held online via Zoom.

Lifelong assistance/mentorship

We provide Lifelong assistance/mentorship from our Educators/Mentors to the young girls who participate in our workshops. This assistance and mentorship occur using Zoom and/or WhatsApp. At the end of the workshop, every young girl who participated is assigned a mentor. She will be given her personalized mentor's WhatsApp and Zoom details. She will be able to reach out to her mentor anytime using these platforms.

Free Lifelong education on SRHR topics

As a social enterprise, PadHer actively develops and publishes monthly comic books that address crucial topics on periods, puberty, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, like Introduction to Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV and Sugar Daddy Awareness, Teenage Pregnancy, and many more!

So far, we have published 10 comic books on various SRHR topics.

Available in 15 widely spoken languages in Africa!

Our comic book series are available in English, French, Arabic, Swahili, Zulu, Amharic, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Luganda, Xhosa, Somali, Shona, Sesotho and Oromo. We want to reach as many girls as possible, and we believe this is the right step in that direction.

What makes "Girls Only" great?
Well-researched, Designed for Boys Too, Medically accurate contents, Based on real-life experiences, Fun for schoolgirls, Comfortable for Parents and Teachers, and Available in multiple languages!