Our Positive Periods Program is successfully tackling Period Poverty all over the world

What is our Positive Periods Program?


How it all started


Where are we now

We have now delivered our Positive Periods Program in 4 countries. Starting in Sierra Leone, then in The Gambia, followed by Cuba, and now in Haiti. Each country has taken the foundations of the project and made it their own, completely in keeping with the Steve Sinnott Foundation’s mission to work and collaborate together with other cultures and respect that each area will have its own needs and ways of best tackling a challenge.

Here is an outline of how each country has done this, making our Positive Periods Program the most diverse and effective program for enabling women and girls in diverse parts of the world. Managing periods, gender equality, sexual health, and violence, all affect girls ability to access education, and our programme is flexible enough to help girls challenge these issues.

The Gambia

The Foundation has been working with teachers and educators in The Gambia and Sierra Leone over the past 3 years to pilot a project to enable girls who miss 50 days a year due to having their menstrual period access to reusable period pads. We have called this project “Positive Periods”.


We were invited by the Gambia Teachers Union (GTU) initially to pilot this project and since then we have carried out research on the most effective and sustainable way for all girls to access this opportunity.


To tailor this program to the unique needs of girls the organisers have added in a module to raise awareness of sexual violence and gender equality.


The teachers who have had this training are cascading this training throughout their schools.



Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, Isata M Kamara (project Manager) working with the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) and other community groups has hosted this programme in over 60 schools this year in Makeni, Port Loko, Bo and Kenema.

 

Despite the COVID19 outbreak leading to the closure of schools affecting the implementation of this training taking place in schools, the teachers were determined to ensure the Positive Periods Program did not stop altogether.


Boys and girls, and women and men were all involved in the workshops. They were trained in using both their hands and sewing machines to ensure that that everyone in their various schools could prepare the sanitary pads themselves and cascade this to others.


The training was initially based on health and hygiene, how to take care of themselves, and how to take care of the pads. But as the girls in her workshops talked to Isata about their problems and challenges, she realised that there was more that needed to be done. They asked for training to support themselves and their teachers on the gender-based violence and equality issues that are affecting them in their schools and community. So the organisers have now devised an additional module to raise awareness of sexual violence and gender equality to these workshops.

 

Plans for the future: Everyone is learning together and supporting each other, women and men, boys and girls. There is still much work to do and the team are now working on the most sustainable way of sharing the learning with other schools and communities across rural Sierra Leone.



Cuba

In March 2021 we started the Cuba Positive Periods Programme, named “Iniciativa Duenas” which is part of our initiative to train people in the preparation of reusable sanitary pads or intima as they are called in Cuba. The project is about how to make re-usable pads using sustainable, reusable and washable, long lasting and eco-friendly material. There were also benefits for more senior women, for those who need support with incontinence, and following surgery. 

It incorporated discussion and learning across the generations with grandmas teaching their grandchildren.

 

The participants came together on-line from across 15 women's entrepreneurship and anti-racist struggle groups. They were instructed and communicated with each other through WhatsApp. These sessions took place from their homes, in the provinces of Havana and Santiago de Cuba. The workshops facilitated a space for conversation not only about how to make their own reusable period pads but also about menstrual health for young people.

 

These women will now spread this workshop in their own groups and encourage other women to share it too. This way it will reach more women than we could possibly reach alone.



Haiti

July 2021, in Haiti the project started a few days after the political situation became tense, you can read more about this in our blog post here. If that wasn’t enough during the project there was an earthquake, we ran an appeal for this too. We were not sure if the project would be able to start or continue due to these challenges, however the Haitian spirit shines in the face of any adversity, and they continued regardless. A lighthouse for us all to follow. This program also decided to add in a module of sexual health, pregnancy and gender rights, as that was a related topic very pertinent to the current needs of girls in Haiti right now.

 

Stelandie Jean-François, the young woman in charge started the session introducing the materials the girls would be using and the patterns that they will use to create their own re-usable pads. Her students had no experience sowing so they were learning this skill also. They are very excited to be getting hands on experience making period pads that will help them live a fuller life, and come to school every day.

 

In the meantime, the school nurses drafted the training modules that they will be using for the next phase, the educational sessions. This will ensure that girls and young women know more about menstruation and female health. This supports them to better manage and understand their menstrual health and wellbeing.

 

After this workshop was delivered, staff can be trained on the workshop, and how to deliver it in their respective schools. This way the knowledge is cascaded through to the wider community.



Thank you to our Sponsors

We could not carry out this work without the support of our sponsors Soroptimists International St Albans and District, London Chilterns, Leeds and Selby. NEU Districts and Branches and all the incredible individual donors who support us with regular giving and one-off gifts.


We have also recently secured generous funding from The Openwork Foundation, so we can continue to expand this program to other countries.


You can support here


Plans for the Future

We know this programme works, the feedback from participants has been very positive, they have been instrumental in improving and adapting the training. The most important impact has been the feedback from teacher’s that girls are now coming back to school and they feel they are able to talk about their periods more openly and share solutions.


We have learned that the programme can be replicated and adapted for different needs and it is giving women and girls a voice about other important issues such as gender-based violence. If you have equal access to education you have equal choices.


We are just waiting to roll out the programme in Malawi and Uganda, which has had to be be postponed due to Covid-19. We have 6 other countries waiting to start the programme and the teams are working on sustainability in each country. This project enables women and girls to manage their periods with dignity and pride, it’s a simple solution but we know it is a powerful one.


We hope you will continue to support us on this journey.



More blog posts about our Positive Periods campaign


Videos about our Positive Periods campaign

Steve Sinnott • October 20, 2021
By Ann Beatty August 15, 2025
Mike Fleetham of Thinking Classroom has written a book " Headlines: Inspiration, humour and advice for school leaders ". A collection of original ideas, advice from professionals, quotes, and tips to support and inspire all leaders. Perfect for new and established leaders working in education, especially headteachers. "Being a headteacher is like looking both ways before you cross the road, and then getting hit by an aeroplane." To Enter the Competition To win a copy of Headlines please share your inspiring education or life lesson in no more than 600 words. The winning article will also be published in our next edition of Engage. Send your words of inspiration to admin@stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk 📅 Deadline: 5th September 2025⁠ Stuck on Ideas? Here are some questions and prompts to get you started! What’s the one lesson school didn’t teach you, but life did? Think of a moment that changed your path, what happened? What piece of advice has helped you grow the most? When did a challenge turn into an opportunity for you? What story from your life would inspire someone on the other side of the world? What’s the life lesson that unlocked your next chapter? ⁠ Your words could uplift, empower and be seen by many. Let your story inspire the world! 🌍💡⁠ Good luck and we cant wait to read all the entries!
By Ann Beatty July 8, 2025
This week our CEO Ann and Jude (SSF Ambassador) visited schools in Coventry and heard about the wonderful work that students are doing to foster peace and community connection, as part of Coventry Arts Week. We visited Lyng Hall school in the morning and met with Ms Hagan and four of the schools UNESCO ASPnet ambassadors. They told us all about their recent project. The students took their art and poetry to the 80th Anniversary symposium in Ypres and Dunkirk. They shared with us some of the poetry they had written together with the students on the field trip and some of their own poems too. They also shared their future plans for working with their local primary school on peace and community. We also had the privilege of joining Ms Hagans class where they were looking at Caliban’s tale. Here is one of the students work
By Ann Beatty June 30, 2025
For my birthday this year I had the honour to walk 60 miles (yes it was a big 0 birthday) over 3 days to support the essential work of the Steve Sinnott Foundation of which I am CEO. Education in its many forms is essential for all of us to thrive and make the most of life's opportunities. The Foundation works to ensure that as many children and adults as possible across the globe can access the human right of education. The plan was to walk with friends and supporters who I hoped would keep me smiling along the way and it felt like a good way to make use of the Foundation’s “Get Moving” campaign. Here's how my Get Moving Fundraiser went on the first day. The 13th June I started my walk in London by walking from Barnet to west Hampstead and visiting my sister at her shop at Tree of Life where I got served a nice iced coffee to keep me going.