NGO Empowers Girls with Reusable Pad Skills to Tackle Period Poverty in Kano
By Uzair Adam
A non-governmental organisation, Frontier for Gender Advocacy, Accountability and Empowerment Initiative, has trained adolescent girls in Kano on how to produce reusable sanitary pads in a move aimed at improving school attendance.
The Daily Reality reports that the training, conducted under its EmpowerHer Cycle Project, seeks to address period poverty while equipping girls with practical skills, safety and dignity.
Speaking at the programme on Thursday, the organisation’s Executive Director, Barr. Amina Sulaiman, explained that the intervention targets absenteeism among adolescent girls caused by lack of access to menstrual hygiene products.
She said many girls are forced to miss school during their menstrual cycle because they cannot afford sanitary pads, describing the situation as a significant barrier to girls’ education.
“We identified that most girls stay away from school during their period due to inability to afford hygiene products,” she said, adding that the organisation introduced a sustainable solution by training them to produce reusable sanitary pads using accessible materials.
Sulaiman noted that the initiative would ease the financial burden on families, improve school retention and empower the girls with income-generating skills.
She added that beneficiaries could also turn the knowledge into a source of livelihood by producing and selling the pads or teaching others.
According to her, the programme also includes menstrual health education and sensitisation on Gender-Based Violence (GBV), covering identification, prevention and response mechanisms.
She called on parents to prioritise the education of the girl child, stressing that educating girls has far-reaching benefits for both individuals and society.
Sulaiman also commended government support through relevant gender-focused agencies and expressed optimism that continued collaboration would expand the reach of such interventions across Kano State.
In her remarks, the Principal of Government Girls Junior Secondary School, Rijiyar Zaki, Maryam Haruna-Suleiman, described the initiative as timely and impactful, noting that many girls in public schools lack access to sanitary pads, which affects their attendance and participation in class.
“This programme will help our girls learn how to make and use reusable pads, and also pass the knowledge to others,” she said, adding that it would boost their confidence and encourage consistent school attendance even during menstruation.
She urged the organisers to sustain and expand the initiative to reach more schools.
The also gathered that the programme featured hands-on training on reusable pad production, menstrual hygiene management, and the distribution of dignity kits to participants.
The kits contained items such as underwear, soap and detergents to support proper hygiene during menstruation.