Ufulu Malawi

Globally, approx 130 million girls are out of school (Unesco). There are many reasons for this, but menstruation plays a huge part. 70% of girls we've spoken to in Malawi attribute frequent school absences to being unable to afford sanitary pads.  By providing free menstrual cups via instructional workshops, we enable girls to attend school full time, and complete their education.

If scaled globally, cup workshops (and educating girls about their bodies), will reduce unwanted teenage pregnancies/ transmission of STIs and increase the number of girls finishing secondary education. 

"If you educate a man, you educate one person. If you educate a woman, you educate a nation"

Problem - Girls missing school (due to period poverty).

70% of teenage girls we have spoken to, miss one week of school per month, simply because they have their periods.  In Malawi, 75% of the population is under 18.  Girls deserve a full education, but periods are not a choice and they are missing their education due to biology.  

We enable girls to attend school full time.  

Menstrual cups are made of medical grade silicone, are reusable (they last for 10  years), require no soap (you boil them clean), are safe, hygienic and easy to use.

We run instructional workshops, lasting 2 hours, where we educate the girls on menstrual health and hygiene and how to use and care for their cups, as well as basic sexual reproductive health information.

Solution - Enable girls to attend school full time. 

How? 

By providing them with a free, clean, safe, hygienic sanitary product, that is reusable, requires no soap to clean it and will last them 10 years, after they have attended our cup workshops.

In rural Malawi 70% of girls miss one week of school every month simply due to a lack of decent sanitary protection.  

Ensuring menstrual hygiene and health – beyond being a basic human right, as outlined by the Human Rights Council in 2018 - makes good economic sense. Investing in girls’ menstrual health is a cost-effective development intervention leading to stronger economic growth.  

The technology is simple - a medical grade silicone menstrual cup.

Our solution serves the whole community.  If you educate a man, you educate one person.  If you educate a woman, you educate a nation.

Our target population is any menstruating female.

Our workshops are run by women within each community that we work with. The workshop facilitators are women who have already received and are using a menstrual cup, provided by us. We work with the community to eradicate the taboos surrounding menstruation.  We liaise with Tribal Authorities, village Chiefs, Community Hospital workers, Church groups, Working Women's groups and the Heads and staff of community schools.

By providing free menstrual cups, we allow working women the freedom to go about their business, without the fear of leaking from inadequate sanitary products (most women and girls use cloth rags, which leak, smell, need frequent changing and washing, and cause nappy rash and infections).  We enable girls to attend school full time and complete their secondary education.

By giving girls a cup, we allow them to attend school full time.

By educating girls about their bodies, we enable them to stay in school, because they are less likely to fall pregnant, through lack of decent sex education.

All children deserve an education. 

Many girls around the world miss school when they are menstruating.

Periods are not a choice.  Every female in the world will have a period once a month, from the age of around 13 until about 50.

Lack of access to decent sanitary products prevents too many girls from attending school.  No girl should miss school because of a bodily function over which she has no choice.

By giving free menstrual cups, we are enabling girls to go to school.  Cups last 10 years - and are a simple one step solution.

Ufulu was set up to solve a specific problem - period poverty, and the knock on effect that it has on the education of girls.  We were set up by women to work with women and empower both women and girls.  We work with and train up local women in each community.  

There are no real competitors to our solution.  Every girl deserves and education.  We provide sanitary products.  It is the choice of women and girls whether they would like to use them (we have not had any female refuse our cups so far).

Other solutions to period poverty are the provision of disposable or reusable pads.

Disposable pads contain plastic, they are a single use product, that pollute the environment, both in their production (cotton is the thirstiest crop to grow in bulk) and disposal (in Malawi, females living around the lakeshore throw their used pads into the lake, those inland throw them into pit latrines). 

Reusable pads last for around 14 months.  Although not a single use product, they require washing powder to clean them and can be hard to dry properly during the rainy season.

Cups are reusable and last 10 years.  They are a single use product.  Cups can be boiled clean, and require no washing powder.  Cups contain no plastic, and do not pollute the environment.

Our technology is reusable, menstrual cups, make out of medical grade silicone.

Menstrual cups were invented in 1937.  However, they are not widely known about.  They are used most commonly in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. They are less well known within the developing world.  This is despite the obvious advantages to women and girls in low GDP countries from using them ie reusable product, that does not require soap to clean it, does not pollute their environment and is safe and easy to use.

How do we show that our solution has an impact on the problem?

Increased attendance levels of teenage girls at school

We liaise with school and church leaders.  We have shown, that prior to corona virus, there was a significant increase in the attendance levels of girls at school, simply by providing them with a menstrual cup.

We have given out over 950 cups since April 2019.  We conduct catch up sessions with cup recipients to find out how their cup has worked for them, about 3 months after receiving their cups.

100% of girls questioned said that they no longer fear going to school when they have their periods.  100% of girls questioned told us that they no longer get nappy rash or infections from using cloth rags. Only 2 girls reported missing school after receiving their cup and that was due to period pain, not from fear of embarrassment, due to leaking or staining on clothes, or having to carry used cloth rags around with them.

Present - 950

One year from now - 3,500

5 years from now - 12,000 upwards

To provide free menstrual cups to as many women and girls that we can reach via our workshops.

Lack of funding to enable our project to keep going.

By continually applying for funding, seeking donations and organising fund raising events.

Present staff - Full time 1

Contractor 2

Future staff - Full time 1

Contractor 400

As we reach out into more communities, we will train up more women to run and facilitate workshops within their local community.  The more women we can train, the more workshops we can run through them.  We anticipate training as many women as we can, in order to maximise the number of workshops taking place on a weekly basis.

Ufulu was started by Widge Woolsey in 2019.  Widge has spent over 20 years working and travelling in Africa. In late 2018 she met Nandi Mwakhwawa, and realised that the majority of women and girls in Malawi, have little or no access to sanitary products.  Nandi told Widge that she and a great many other women were forced to use cloth rags as their sanitary products. 

Widge bought Nandi a menstrual cup in December 2018 and in early 2019 Nandi contacted Widge to say that receiving the cup had changed her life. Widge knew that something had to be done about the situation. She did due diligence on a variety of menstrual cups available and approached Ruby Cup.  Widge purchased 400 Ruby cups in March 2019 and flew out to Likoma.  Nandi is a Certified Advisor on Women’s Health and Hygiene and she and Widge began distributing the cups via workshops.  They spoke to government ministers, Tribal Authority and village Chiefs to seek permission to run the project and advise on how well it was received.

In July 2019 Ufulu was registered as a charity.  Funds were raised to purchase more cups, and in September 2019, Ruby Cup contacted Widge to offer Ufulu a donation partnership, - Ruby Cup would donate cups to Ufulu, in return for an exclusive partnership.  In November 2019, Widge returned to Malawi with a further consignment of cups and workshops began again. 

We work with communities to empower their women and girls.

We have a donation partnership with Ruby Cup - a manufacturer and supplier of menstrual cups.

They donate a certain amount of cups to us every year, provided they are happy with the quality of our work.

Widge and the CEO of Ruby Cup Amaia Arranz have established a good working relationship - we have the same goals - the eradication of period poverty.

We use BeeBee wraps as our supplier of beeswax wraps to protect the soap that we give to women to wash their hands with when using their cups.

Both of these companies were set up by and continue to be run by women.  Ufulu has a positive working relationship with both companies and we continue to support and encourage one another with our ventures.

Our beneficiaries are any menstruating female that is unable to afford clean, safe sanitary products.

We provide free menstrual cup starter packs via instructional workshops.

Women and girls require cups to enable them to work and attend school full time without fear of embarrassment from leaking and discomfort, rashes and infections.

Periods are not a choice.  Every female has periods, unless they are pregnant or use a contraceptive device that stops them.  A lack of access to sanitary products should not stop a female from working or going to school.

We continue to seek funding to enable us to continue our project by applying for funds either through grants or donations from individuals.

We are restricted in our ability to reach females, by a lack of funds in order to run our project. By increasing our funding, we will be able to train more women to facilitate workshops and supply them with the means to run the workshops.

We are a charity dedicated to empowering women by ending period poverty and supplying females with the means to work and attend school (the provision of clean, safe and hygienic sanitary products).