The Days for Girls Podcast Days for Girls International

In the mission for menstrual equity, Days for Girls, The Policy Project, Share the Dignity, Population Services International Europe, The Pad Project, The International Sanitary Supply Association, and The Toilet Board Coalition partnered to create the Period Positive Workplace initiative to help organizations around the world build menstrual equity.

Visit https://www.periodpositiveworkplace.org/ to learn more. 

Period Positive Workplaces support gender equality by providing period products at work.

Your organization can become a certified by doing these three things:
Provide period products in bathroomsMeet WASH facility standardsInform employees via a formal notice (e.g., sending an email, announcing it at a staff meeting, updating your employee benefits or HR handbook, etc.) that period products are and will continue to be provided.Period positive workplaces can increase employee productivity and reduce absenteeism for people who menstruate. Organizations become stronger and more inclusive by providing for menstrual needs.

Join over 100 organizations around the world to become a Period Positive Workplace and receive complimentary certification by applying here.

In this episode of The Days for Girls Podcast, Diana Nelson, DfG Global Advocacy Director and Jess Strait, DfG Data Systems Manager & Advocacy Specialist join us to talk about the Period Positive Workplace.

We discuss:
In depth details on the Period Positive Workplace initiative and how it came about. How does having period products at work impact employees and why does it matter for businesses?What the data says about this issue.The growth of the initiative and organizations already certified. How you can encourage your employer to become Period Positive Workplace certified. What it takes to be come certified. Mentioned in this episode:

Episode 025: Fighting Period Poverty at Penn State with Jess Straight & Emma Cihanowyz

Bios:

Diana Nelson
Diana Nelson is the Global Advocacy Director at Days for Girls International where she focuses on developing policy environments that support women, girls, and people who menstruate with the knowledge and products they need to manage their periods, including the establishment of washables standards and comprehensive menstrual health education.  A leader in menstrual health coalition building, she serves on the leadership team for the African Coalition for Menstrual Health (ACMHM), on the Advocacy and Policy Task Committee for the Global Menstrual Collective, and represents DfG on several other coalitions. She helped launch the South Africa Menstrual Health and Hygiene Coalition and advocated to the Cambodian government to pilot menstrual health education in their national curriculum.

Jess Strait
In her dual role, Jess oversees IT operations and Days for Girls advocacy programming in high-income countries. Jess became involved with Days for Girls in 2018 as a founder and president of the Penn State club. Her work there included a campus-wide menstrual cup distribution, co-instructing a course on menstrual equity, conducting a menstrual health needs assessment, and running sewing operations for
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Jeanne Charbit is a Project Manager at Hystra Consulting which she joined in 2019. In her first years, Jeanne mainly worked in the nutrition sector, notably on a multi-year partnership between an FMCG and a donor in Nigeria, and on MERIEM project, for which she spent a year in Burkina Faso, working with local companies to develop fortified food products for children and women.

More recently she has been working on menstrual health issues and is the author of Hystra’s report "Scaling up access to menstrual health in the Global South: Improving product quality and access to reusable options"

Links:

https://www.hystra.com/our-insights/a2mh

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanne-charbit/



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Habiba C Mohamed is a social change activator, and trained psychotherapist advocating for women’s bio-psychosocial health and rights. Ms Mohamed supports marginalized women and girls to tap into their inner strengths and amplify their potential and impact in society.

Habiba Mohamed works with Fistula Foundation as the Regional Director, Programs (Africa, Asia). Habiba Joined the Foundation in 2014 as the outreach manager. In this role, she designed and spearheaded the community strategy for the Fistula Foundation Treatment Network in Kenya. Later, she was promoted to country director to oversee the entire network of hospital and community partners. Her work has contributed to provision of fistula surgeries, and restoring of dignity to more than 11,000 women in the last 8 years. In her role as regional director of programs, Habiba is responsible for the expansion of the treatment network model throughout the African region.

Before joining the Fistula Foundation, Ms. Mohamed worked on the fistula program for nearly a decade. She is the Founder and Lead Director of Women and Development Against Distress in Africa (WADADIA), a nonprofit organization that advocates for sexual reproductive health and rights for the marginalized women. Since establishing the organization in the year 2006, she has been actively involved in the formulation of policies, procedures and strategies that has led to its growth and expansion. Besides her work with WADADIA, Habiba also supported a community program funded by the United Nations Population Fund for six years, and served as a consultant program specialist for One By One, a US-based nonprofit focused on fistula treatment. She has worked and volunteered with several other organizations, giving her an in-depth understanding of community dynamics and engagement. 

Ms Mohamed was the lead consultant in the development of the female genital fistula training curriculum for community health volunteers in Kenya, and a contributor for the new global fistula guidance. She is the author of the psychosocial effects of obstetric fistula on young mothers in Western Kenya, obstetric fistula post-repair follow up; an outreach workers perspective, and the obstetric fistula community-based assessment tool (OF-COMBAT) - a verbal screening tool, that has helped reduce the number of women being referred to fistula treatment centers with other forms of incontinences.

Ms Mohamed began her career as a veterinarian, assisting livestock farmers in Western Kenya. Through this close contact with the community, she began to see the social challenges faced by rural, communities and became passionate about working with marginalized women. She has a higher diploma in Social Work and Community Development, a first and a master’s degree in counseling psychology and is an ongoing PhD candidate of counselling psychology at Kenyatta University.

Links:

https://fistulafoundation.org/

https://www.facebook.com/fistulafoundation/ 

https://www.facebook.com/WADADIA/

https://www.wadadia-nonprofits.org/

https://www.facebook.com/WADADIA/
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Jedidah Lemaron is an accomplished psychologist and specialist in AYSRH and Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management. As a training consultant, FGM advocate, and the Founder and Executive Director of The Malkia Initiative, she works tirelessly to ensure that every girl and woman in pastoral communities can participate in development meaningfully and effectively through quality education, advocacy, and gender justice mainstreaming.
With over nine years of experience in Gender, Community Sexual Reproductive Health, and Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG), Jedidah is committed to empowering women and girls through education, addressing gender equality and sexual reproductive health and rights, policy, and advocacy. She earned her degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Nairobi and completed a Leadership in Civic Engagement program at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jedidah's efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 2022, she was honored with the Head of State Award for her contribution to ending Female Genital Mutilation in Kajiado County. She was also a finalist for the Diversity and Inclusion Award and recognition for UNLEASH SDG 5talent in 2022 and a recipient of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in 2016.
Links:
https://malkiainitiative.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedidah-lemaron/
https://allafrica.com/stories/201712130690.html
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Laura Baerwolf has been with Mona Foundation since 2019 and is currently its Chief Operating Officer. She is passionate about Mona’s mission to alleviate poverty through education and gender equality and its unique values-driven approach to philanthropy based on the oneness of humanity. She sees her work at Mona as the culmination of a life-long commitment to service.
Laura is an experienced administrator with a Master's degree in Public Health. She worked in healthcare administration at FHP International for many years and later moved to the nonprofit sector to manage the administrative office of the Regional Bahá'í Council of the Northwestern States.
Prior to joining Mona, Laura worked as a regional coordinator for the Northwest Regional Training Institute, a nonprofit educational agency aimed at empowering children, youth, and adults to develop their individual capabilities and contribute to the betterment of their communities. She currently serves on the Institute’s Board of Directors as its secretary.
Mona Foundation Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monafoundation.org/
Mona Foundation Twitter: https://twitter.com/monafoundation
Mona Foundation Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themonafoundation/
Mona Foundation YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/monafoundation
Mona Foundation LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1969671/
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In this episode, Cynthia Covey Haller talks about her latest book, Live Life in Crescendo and why Days for Girls is mentioned as an example of what it means to live life in crescendo. 

Cowritten with his daughter, Cynthia Covey Haller, and published posthumously, Live Life in Crescendo is a life-changing and life-affirming book that befits the generosity and wisdom of the late Stephen R. Covey.

Cynthia Covey Haller is an author, teacher, speaker, and active participant in her community. She is the author of She has contributed to the writing of several books and articles, notably, The 3rd Alternative by Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, and The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make, both by Sean Covey. 

Cynthia has held multiple leadership positions in women's organizations, served as a PTSA president, as an organizer for refugee aid and a food pantry volunteer, and she is currently working with her husband, Kameron, as a service volunteer for Bridle Up Hope, a non-profit. 

She graduated from Brigham Young University and lives with her family in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is the mother of 6 children and has 21 grandchildren, giving her plenty of opportunity to "live in crescendo!" 
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