Accessibility Statement Skip Navigation
  • Why PRWeb
  • How It Works
  • Who Uses It
  • Pricing
  • Login
  • GDPR
  • Create a Free Account
Return to PRWeb homepage
  • News
  • Resources
  • Contact
When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type.

Searching for your content...

No results found. Please change your search terms and try again.
  • News in Focus
      • Browse News Releases

      • All News Releases
      • Multimedia Gallery

      • All Multimedia
      • All Photos
      • All Videos
  • Business & Money
      • Auto & Transportation

      • Aerospace, Defense
      • Air Freight
      • Airlines & Aviation
      • Automotive
      • Maritime & Shipbuilding
      • Railroads and Intermodal Transportation
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Transportation, Trucking & Railroad
      • Travel
      • Trucking and Road Transportation
      • View All Auto & Transportation

      • Business Technology

      • Blockchain
      • Broadcast Tech
      • Computer & Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Components
      • Electronic Design Automation
      • Financial Technology
      • High Tech Security
      • Internet Technology
      • Nanotechnology
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Semiconductors
      • View All Business Technology

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film and Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Financial Services & Investing

      • Accounting News & Issues
      • Acquisitions, Mergers and Takeovers
      • Banking & Financial Services
      • Bankruptcy
      • Bond & Stock Ratings
      • Conference Call Announcements
      • Contracts
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Dividends
      • Earnings
      • Earnings Forecasts & Projections
      • Financing Agreements
      • Insurance
      • Investments Opinions
      • Joint Ventures
      • Mutual Funds
      • Private Placement
      • Real Estate
      • Restructuring & Recapitalization
      • Sales Reports
      • Shareholder Activism
      • Shareholder Meetings
      • Stock Offering
      • Stock Split
      • Venture Capital
      • View All Financial Services & Investing

      • General Business

      • Awards
      • Commercial Real Estate
      • Corporate Expansion
      • Earnings
      • Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
      • Human Resource & Workforce Management
      • Licensing
      • New Products & Services
      • Obituaries
      • Outsourcing Businesses
      • Overseas Real Estate (non-US)
      • Personnel Announcements
      • Real Estate Transactions
      • Residential Real Estate
      • Small Business Services
      • Socially Responsible Investing
      • Surveys, Polls and Research
      • Trade Show News
      • View All General Business

  • Science & Tech
      • Consumer Technology

      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Blockchain
      • Cloud Computing/Internet of Things
      • Computer Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Consumer Electronics
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Gaming
      • Financial Technology
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Multimedia & Internet
      • Peripherals
      • Social Media
      • STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math)
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Consumer Technology

      • Energy & Natural Resources

      • Alternative Energies
      • Chemical
      • Electrical Utilities
      • Gas
      • General Manufacturing
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Oil & Energy
      • Oil and Gas Discoveries
      • Utilities
      • Water Utilities
      • View All Energy & Natural Resources

      • Environ­ment

      • Conservation & Recycling
      • Environmental Issues
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Products & Services
      • Green Technology
      • Natural Disasters
      • View All Environ­ment

      • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Aerospace & Defense
      • Agriculture
      • Chemical
      • Construction & Building
      • General Manufacturing
      • HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning)
      • Machinery
      • Machine Tools, Metalworking and Metallurgy
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Paper, Forest Products & Containers
      • Precious Metals
      • Textiles
      • Tobacco
      • View All Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Telecomm­unications

      • Carriers and Services
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Telecommunications Equipment
      • Telecommunications Industry
      • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Telecomm­unications

  • Lifestyle & Health
      • Consumer Products & Retail

      • Animals & Pets
      • Beers, Wines and Spirits
      • Beverages
      • Bridal Services
      • Cannabis
      • Cosmetics and Personal Care
      • Fashion
      • Food & Beverages
      • Furniture and Furnishings
      • Home Improvement
      • Household, Consumer & Cosmetics
      • Household Products
      • Jewelry
      • Non-Alcoholic Beverages
      • Office Products
      • Organic Food
      • Product Recalls
      • Restaurants
      • Retail
      • Supermarkets
      • Toys
      • View All Consumer Products & Retail

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film and Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Health

      • Biometrics
      • Biotechnology
      • Clinical Trials & Medical Discoveries
      • Dentistry
      • FDA Approval
      • Fitness/Wellness
      • Health Care & Hospitals
      • Health Insurance
      • Infection Control
      • International Medical Approval
      • Medical Equipment
      • Medical Pharmaceuticals
      • Mental Health
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Supplementary Medicine
      • View All Health

      • Sports

      • General Sports
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Sporting Events
      • Sports Equipment & Accessories
      • View All Sports

      • Travel

      • Amusement Parks and Tourist Attractions
      • Gambling & Casinos
      • Hotels and Resorts
      • Leisure & Tourism
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Passenger Aviation
      • Travel Industry
      • View All Travel

  • Policy & Public Interest
      • Policy & Public Interest

      • Advocacy Group Opinion
      • Animal Welfare
      • Congressional & Presidential Campaigns
      • Corporate Social Responsibility
      • Domestic Policy
      • Economic News, Trends, Analysis
      • Education
      • Environmental
      • European Government
      • FDA Approval
      • Federal and State Legislation
      • Federal Executive Branch & Agency
      • Foreign Policy & International Affairs
      • Homeland Security
      • Labor & Union
      • Legal Issues
      • Natural Disasters
      • Not For Profit
      • Patent Law
      • Public Safety
      • Trade Policy
      • U.S. State Policy
      • View All Policy & Public Interest

  • People & Culture
      • People & Culture

      • Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American
      • African American
      • Asian American
      • Children
      • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
      • Hispanic
      • Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual
      • Men's Interest
      • People with Disabilities
      • Religion
      • Senior Citizens
      • Veterans
      • Women
      • View All People & Culture

  • Hamburger menu
  • Cision PRWeb provides efficient communication tools to continuously engage with target audiences across multiple online channels
  • Create a Free Account
    • ALL CONTACT INFO
    • Contact Us


      11AM ET Sunday – 8PM ET Friday

  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • News in Focus
    • Browse All News
    • Multimedia Gallery
  • Business & Money
    • Auto & Transportation
    • Business Technology
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Financial Services & Investing
    • General Business
  • Science & Tech
    • Consumer Technology
    • Energy & Natural Resources
    • Environ­ment
    • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing
    • Telecomm­unications
  • Lifestyle & Health
    • Consumer Products & Retail
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Health
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Policy & Public Interest
  • People & Culture
    • People & Culture
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR

UhuruPads: a Global Partnership Bringing Education, Empowerment, and Employment to Tanzanian Girls and Women
  • USA - English


News provided by

[email protected]

May 29, 2018, 11:00 ET

Share this article

Share toX

Share this article

Share toX


The driver is the education of girls. Educating girls has been proven to be among the highest yielding investment one can make in developing countries.

Post this

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (PRWEB) May 29, 2018 -- From lush Kentucky horse country, to the Mumbai slums made famous in “Slum Dog Millionaire,” to the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, a unique collaboration is changing Tanzanian girls’ and women’s lives through women-run production centers making 100% biodegradable sanitary pads. UhuruPads – http://www.UhuruPads.org – was founded to ensure that every girl and woman has “uhuru” – the Swahili word for “freedom.” Awareness for the global challenge of girls and women desperate for sanitary products is on the rise most recently highlighted by Prince Harry and his bride, Meghan Markle, who encouraged well-wishers to provide hygiene products for poor girls and women, in lieu of wedding gifts.

In 2016, social entrepreneur and philanthropy advisor Laura Chauvin was visiting a Tanzanian school and realized its 500 girls had no sanitary products. There on behalf of 8-time NBA All-Star, Dwight Howard (who has long provided safe housing and school supplies for East African girls), she learned that hygiene products were beyond reach of most girls who also do not receive the information they need on the changes of puberty. These gaps become insurmountable barriers to school attendance, employment, and other opportunities. Gates Foundation research recently confirmed: families living on less than $2 per day often choose between their daughters’ hygiene products and family food. Those unable to afford products may use rags, dirt, or leaves, creating new health issues or school absence. Multiple absences lead to girls dropping out, consigning them to a life of poverty.

With Howard’s support, Chauvin sought a solution which would address the gaps in education, employment, and even empowerment – addressing taboos about menstruation which cause feelings of shame and embarrassment and threats to personal safety. The pursuit took her to India where, in the shadow of the Dharavi slum, she witnessed the impact of a hygiene pad technology developed by Aakar Innovations: “Their Anandi Pad is India’s first 100% compostable, high quality sanitary pad for poor girls and women. Women employees make the pads, creating an affordable, sustainable solution allowing girls and women to manage their flow in dignity. Basic hygiene education, critical to surviving childbirth, raising healthier, educated children, and emerging from poverty, is also part of their model. It was the right thing to ask for their help to bring it to Tanzania.”

With Aakar’s support and Howard as the project’s key funder, the first Tanzanian production center opened in late 2017. Now employing 12 women and producing more than 1000 pads each day, funds for a second center are being raised. Chauvin says “The driver is the education of girls. Educating girls has been proven to be among the highest yielding investment one can make in developing countries.”

Applauding Ms. Markle and the Prince on the awareness they've raised and inundated with support as her Louisville-team hosted one of a number of US events in conjunction with Menstrual Hygiene Day (an international commemoration held each May), Chauvin says the movement is growing: “This summer, a team of young women will raise funds to provide the pads and undergarments - which most girls also lack - to 2000 girls in Tanzania for an entire school year.” These “Uhuru Champions” will deploy to Tanzanian communities, trained to present health and hygiene education as part of their efforts. Chauvin says: “People everywhere can help create a world where menstrual hygiene is a human right so that girls grow up with the dignity and understanding that allows them to reach their full potential.”

Facebook: herbestfootforward
Twitter: herbestfoot

Laura Chauvin, [email protected], https://www.footforwardfund.org/, +1 314-550-6665, [email protected]

Modal title

Tanzanian School Girl Receiving Sanitary Pads and Undergarments
Tanzanian School Girl Receiving Sanitary Pads and Undergarments
An employee at the UhuruPad Workshop in Arusha, Tanzania completes inspection of a biodegradable sanitary pad.
An employee at the UhuruPad Workshop in Arusha, Tanzania completes inspection of a biodegradable sanitary pad.
Tanzanian School Girl Receiving Sanitary Pads and Undergarments An employee at the UhuruPad Workshop in Arusha, Tanzania completes inspection of a biodegradable sanitary pad.

Contact PRWeb

  • 11AM ET Sunday – 8PM ET Friday
  • Contact Us

About PRWeb

  • About PRWeb
  • Partners
  • Partnership Programs
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Resources

Why PRWeb

  • Why PRWeb
  • How It Works
  • Who Uses It
  • Pricing

Accounts

  • Create a Free Account
  • Log in
  • Contact Us

Do not sell or share my personal information:

  • Submit via [email protected] 
  • Call Privacy toll-free: 877-297-8921

Contact Cision

Products

About

My Services
  • All News Releases
  • Online Member Center
  • ProfNet
Cision Distribution Helpline
888-776-0942
  • Legal
  • Site Map
  • RSS
  • Cookie Settings
Copyright © 2025 Cision US Inc.