Living goods is an “Avon-like” network of franchised community health promoters who provide health education and earn a living selling essential health products door-to-door at prices affordable to the poor.
I-Care
Target geography
Target Population
Target income level
- Bottom 20%
- Lower-middle income (20-40%)
- Middle-income (40-60%)
Health focus
- Family planning and reproductive health
Summary
I-Care exists to produce high-quality re-usable sanitary towels, responding to customers’ tastes and preferences for self comfort and personal hygiene. This will preserve environment,improve girl child school attendance and empowerment by creating employment for women.Program goals
To empower the vulnerable girls and women on reproductive health, sexuality and personal hygiene for improved performance and self-esteem. To produce hygienically approved,affordable and accessible re-usable sanitary towels. To create employment opportunities.
Key program components
Afri-Can, together with KIRDI (Kenyan Industrial Research and Development Institute), has developed washable sanitary towels under the name ‘I-Care’. Kenyan girls can buy these sanitary towels at a low price so that they can still go to school when they have their monthly periods.
The reason for this program:
Girls in rural areas and slums don’t have the money for sanitary towels. Instead of sanitary towels they use rags or sand and leaves which is extremely unhygienic. They are embarrassed about this and stay home from school, missing 3 to 5 school days each month. Many girls then quit school completely and are not able to finish their education.
How does it work?
Women will produce the sanitary towels in a factory in Kenya. We have set up a production unit for this purpose. Young school girls can purchase the sanitary towels at a low price. Because the towels aren’t free of charge, we ensure that they understand the value of the product and use it with care. But there are more advantages:
- The programme provides employment opportunities for women in and around Kisumu.
- These women then have their own income.
- Through ‘I-Care’, the taboo surrounding sexuality and cialis pills commercial menstruation can be broken.
- ‘I Care’ is a durable, sustainable product – it can be used for as long as a year.
- Through ‘I-Care’ girls can now finish their education.
- With the ‘I-Care’ programme, the girls become empowered, encouraged to go to school and eventually earn their own incomes.
Scale
Financials
Reported Results
Related Programs
PSI/Zambia was established in 1992 to empower at-risk and underserved Zambians to lead healthier lives in line with the Government of Zambia’s health priorities. PSI/Zambia’s current portfolio contains programs in HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, malaria, safe water.
Contraceptive use among women in Egypt has risen approximately 32 percent over the past three decades. In response to the positive transition toward family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention, DKT launched its Egypt program to augment the amount of contraceptive use in the country.
DKT Ethiopia is the leading provider of condoms and contraceptives in Ethiopia, supplying 75% of the condoms and 40% of the oral contraceptives in Ethiopia from 2005 – 2010.
Marie Stopes Bolivia approaches the subjects of sexual and reproductive health in men and women creatively through the provision of established and mobile services, aiding in the financing of services for low-income families, social marketing and participative, inclusive education.
