Positive Periods Enable Education
Girls all around the world are missing a quarter of their school days because of a natural bodily function called menstruation or periods.
It’s often a taboo subject, with shame and stigma attached, and many have no method of managing it. Without access to education and safe period products women are forced to use unhygienic methods that can cause infection.
Many women and girls cannot afford to buy period products, and even when these are given for free, in some parts of the world, there is often no good way to dispose of the products after use.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
The Steve Sinnott Foundation works with people to build local solutions that respect their culture and desires and that are owned and managed by them so that they will work long term.
Our positive periods program is sustainable. Women learn to make their own sanitary pads with locally sourced and affordable materials, alongside investing in health education and skills enables women to manage their periods with dignity and pride.
Our solution has no waste products, it is long lasting, and is eco-friendly. Reusable pads done the right way, are a tried and tested method respecting the differences in each country.
We enable people rather than creating dependence on costly products that clog up the environment. Women teach other women, men teach their sisters, we all teach each other, we are starting a movement, and we are asking you to join it.
There are 10 benefits to our Positive Periods Program:
1. MISSING SCHOOL - Girls will no longer miss a quarter of their school days. This will have a massive impact on their education and thus on their future prospects.
2. SHAME - It will no longer be a taboo subject, with shame and stigma attached. This will allow girls and women to have dignity and pride in their bodies.
3. HEALTH - Hygiene will be improved and infection can be avoided. This will improve women’s health and longevity.
4. ECO-FRIENDLY – They are made of recycled materials, they are re-usable, there is no waste (unlike the disposable sanitary pads that clog up the environment and cause pollution)
5. SUSTAINABLE – The program is based on education, it’s designed to be spread and the knowledge shared so that there is a wave of change.
6. COST - These pads are low cost, and can be made from materials women already have. They can also make pads to sell to others, thus creating an income from them.
7. LOCAL – Each program respects the locale that it is delivered, taking into account the local culture, local materials, local concerns and is delivered by local people. This means that it’s owned by the community.
8. ADAPTABLE - It’s not a one size fits all programme, there are different templates to use, different body shapes to respect, different spaces to teach it in, different equipment to use, and different words to describe a period.
9. COMFORTABLE – The pads have to be comfortable so that women can get on with their day. They have to work with the clothes different women wear and keep them looking good.
10. FUN – Periods don’t have to be boring, even the pads can be made to look nice, and making them together is a fun crafting session for women to talk and laugh together about being women (and often we include men too).
Our vision for Positive Periods is this:
Now girls are able to go to school. Women are talking to each other. Periods are not a taboo, they are a natural and necessary function. Women and men are sharing this program and teaching others.
With your help this programme can be sown in over 10 different countries, it will grow and spread and it will enable girls to go back to school, and women to take control of their lives.
This is Development at its best, women and men working in solidarity! How does it make you feel knowing that you are part of a new, sustainable movement, making periods positive and women free?
We need you to make this happen. So we are asking you to Donate NOW.
Go with the flow.
The Steve Sinnott Foundation • December 1, 2020
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!
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
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.
