The Days for Girls Podcast

Days for Girls International

Go behind the scenes with Days for Girls International, an award-winning NGO, as we interview thought leaders in international development who work to empower women and girls around the world. You’ll hear from experts in the fields of menstrual health, social entrepreneurship, and international development, as well as get inside stories from the women and girls impacted by our vital work to create menstrual equity for every girl, everywhere, period. Visit daysforgirls.org to learn more about Days for Girls International.

  1. 10/27/2023

    Episode 051: The Period Positive Workplace Initiative with Diana Nelson and Jess Strait

    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 Support the show Please support us at daysforgirls.org

    34 min
  2. Episode 049: The Fistula Foundation with Habiba Corodhia Mohamed

    06/27/2023

    Episode 049: The Fistula Foundation with Habiba Corodhia Mohamed

    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/ Support the show Please support us at daysforgirls.org

    31 min
  3. Episode 048: The Malkia Initiative with Jedidah Lemaron

    06/01/2023

    Episode 048: The Malkia Initiative with Jedidah Lemaron

    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 Support the show Please support us at daysforgirls.org

    32 min
  4. Episode 044: Rochelle Courtenay on The 2022 Global Period Poverty Forum

    08/31/2022

    Episode 044: Rochelle Courtenay on The 2022 Global Period Poverty Forum

    Rochelle Courtenay is the Founder and Managing Director of Share the Dignity, an Australia-based charity, organizing the The Global Period Poverty Forum (GPPF), Oct. 10-12, 2022. The GPPF will bring together 42 world-class speakers, outstanding researchers and those making a global impact for three days of extraordinary development and learning around how WE can unite to end period poverty. Days for Girls is a participating partner. In this episode, Rochelle talks about the inspiration for her work at Share the Dignity and what to expect at the GPPF. Connect: The Global Period Poverty Forum (GPPF), Oct. 10-12, 2022 Share the Dignity Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Bio: Share the Dignity was founded in 2015 with the mission to ensure that everyone is afforded the dignity in life that so many of us take for granted. Share the Dignity brings dignity to women and girls experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, and period poverty through the distribution of period products. Share the Dignity is powered by volunteers, and through Rochelle’s contagious spirit over 6,000 volunteers have jumped on board to help ‘share the dignity.'  Share the Dignity has donated over 3.5 million period products through multiple initiatives across Australia. Rochelle has won recognition and accolades for her work including Finalist Australian of the Year, Cosmopolitan Humanitarian of the Year and Pride of Australia. As well as holding biannual collections for period products nationwide, Rochelle is passionate about advocating for change and creating long-term solutions. Share the Dignity successfully advocated to axe the tax on period products, with the GST on period products being removed in early 2019. Additionally, Share the Dignity has been advocating for free period products in schools for years and since then many states have begun implementing programs.  Most recently, after finding out that patients in Australian hospitals were being denied period products and instead being given diapers, gauze, bed pads and towels Share the Dignity has turned its focus to advocating for pads to be provided to patients for free in Australian public hospitals. Support the show Please support us at daysforgirls.org

    25 min
4.9
out of 5
93 Ratings

About

Go behind the scenes with Days for Girls International, an award-winning NGO, as we interview thought leaders in international development who work to empower women and girls around the world. You’ll hear from experts in the fields of menstrual health, social entrepreneurship, and international development, as well as get inside stories from the women and girls impacted by our vital work to create menstrual equity for every girl, everywhere, period. Visit daysforgirls.org to learn more about Days for Girls International.