Uman4Uman: A social enterprise approach to period poverty
When Haja Isatu Bah made a commitment to help women and girls impacted by period poverty, her decision was based on personal experience.
Haja, a social entrepreneur and a student at Skidmore college at the time, was never taught about menstruation when she was growing up. Nor did she have any context for understanding the changes her body would go through when she entered sexual maturity. By the time she got her period at the age of 11, she had never seen a menstrual pad or tampon, or even knew that such things existed. And Haja was far from unique in this respect: Ninety three percent of girls in her native Sierra Leone have no prior knowledge of menstruation before they get their periods. Most don’t even know what a period is, or how to track their menstrual cycle.
“We were taught about reproduction in secondary school, in home economics and integrated science classes, but in a very scientific way,” says Haja. “I had to learn about ovulation on my own, in my 20s. None of this was taught in school. The topic is taboo.”
“Most girls and women learn about sex and reproduction from older relatives or from their female friends. And it's not the most appropriate knowledge. I remember my mom telling me that after I started getting my period, I would get pregnant if I touched a guy.”
Haja had never heard the term “period poverty” before she entered college. But once she started researching the issue, she began to understand the extent of the problem. She recalls visiting a school in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where none of the 1300 girls – and none of the female teachers – were able to track their menstrual cycle. “They didn’t know when their next period was. It was very disheartening.”
Feeling compelled to use her skills and knowledge to address this problem head on, Haja founded Uman4Uman, a company with a mission to dismantle myths around menses and provide menstrual health education and supplies directly to women and girls who need them. Uman4Uman means “Women for Women” in the native Creole of Sierra Leone.
“The public health crisis we don’t talk about”
Period poverty is a global problem with a complex set of roots, affecting some 500 million women and girls around the world who cannot manage their periods safely. Lack of access to clean toilets or other private space, unequal access to water and soap, inability to access menstrual products, and the stigma and shame associated with menstruation are all contributing factors to period poverty. Social codes discourage open communication about periods. Economic barriers make access to menstrual products difficult or impossible. Unhygienic practices around menstruation pose serious health consequences in the form of bacterial vaginosis and urinary tract infection. Girls who stay out of school when they are on their menses miss educational opportunities, amounting to as much as two months per year for each girl. Menses bring so much complication, expense and discomfort that women sometimes choose pregnancy in order to avoid having a period. The result is pregnancies that may be spaced too close together, leading to a range of health complications such as malnourishment and elevated risk of maternal complications after delivery.
Period poverty is also an economic issue. Two out of five Sierra Leoneon girls miss school when they are on their period because menstrual products are too expensive to access. “Most period products in the market are disposable pads. And they're very expensive,” says Haja. At least two or three pads are needed with heavy flows, requiring frequent changes of pads. But for most of the country’s young women, the cost of the pads makes them inaccessible.
A local solution to period poverty
Haja wanted to use her entrepreneurial skills to dismantle the myths and stereotypes that impact women’s menstrual health in her home country, and at the same time provide affordable menstrual products to communities most impacted by period poverty. She got to work sewing reusable menstrual pad prototypes which she tested on herself until she came up with one that she felt was the most comfortable, affordable, eco friendly, and sustainable. Lacking a professional network, savings, or a donor pool to jumpstart her project, she looked for creative ways to make her vision a reality. After winning a social entrepreneurship grant at Skidmore College, she founded Uman4Uman.
But the goal wasn’t just to produce and sell the pads. She wanted to provide menstrual health education to teach women about healthy and safe self-care during menstruation, along with aspects of sexual and reproductive health. “Those kinds of programs are not offered in schools at all,” says Haja.
At the same time, Haby Sondo, a Burkinabe-American woman raised in the Bronx, had already been involved in numerous cultural conversations with African women in her community around period poverty. Haja and Haby met through Princeton in Africa, a fellowship program focused on developing young leaders in the region, and they connected immediately through their shared interest in menstrual inequality. Haby’s interest in international development and her grantwriting knowledge made her a natural partner for Uman 4 Uman, which was then beginning work in Sierra Leone.
Social Enterprise as a scalable approach
The decision to create a social enterprise was a practical one. “Getting capital for small, non profit organizations which are women-led does not always tend to be easy,” says Haja. A social enterprise model made it possible to raise funds more quickly than conventional nonprofits, and helped them get their vision off the ground in a relatively short period of time compared to the launch time for traditional nonprofit organizations.
Social enterprises are businesses that prioritize social and/or environmental goals. Similar to nonprofits in their commitment to issues such as environmental protection, gender equity, workers’ rights, and so on, they are distinct in that their model is profit-driven. Social enterprises can take the form of profits or nonprofits, and include entrepreneurial nonprofits, cooperatives, worker-owned businesses, B corporations, fair trade organizations, NGOs, charities and credit unions. Profit is generated in the form of products and services related to the organization’s mission, and invested back into the enterprise to help it continue to address its mission.
Traditional nonprofits may also employ social enterprise principles of selling goods and services for profit. For example, counseling services may be offered on a sliding scale by community clinics that are tax-exempt, farm produce sold by farms that operate under a Community Supported Agriculture model as registered nonprofits, and specialty goods such as coffee and chocolate grown in regions where the organization is working to improve wages for workers. Selling of goods that have an integral relationship to the nonprofit’s goals is a highly successful approach for to sustaining an organization with a mission to do good in the world.
“ Creating a social enterprise business makes sense for many entrepreneurs dealing with a variety of barriers to realizing their mission. ”
In the case of Uman4Uman, which faced increasingly stringent requirements for grant applications and scarce funding opportunities as a small non-profit operating in Africa, deciding to go with a social enterprise model seemed to be the path of least resistance. Sustainability was top of mind. If Haja were to rely on grant funding for a portion of her income stream – in the model of traditional nonprofits – Uman4Uman’s mission could be in jeopardy if the flow of grants stopped. With a social enterprise approach, however, product sales would allow menstrual health programs to continue and make period products accessible to more women experiencing period poverty.
Another benefit was a compressed time frame. Because Haja and Haby did not need to jump through the hoops that funders usually require of nonprofits (recruiting a board of directors, submitting a list of donors, register as a nonprofit in different countries, and so forth) it allowed them to get up to speed more quickly and begin offering their products and services where they were needed.
Economic sustainability
Although Haja is aware of the limitations of grant funding, she acknowledges that grants can help Uman4Uman increase its impact and reach more women who need affordable menstrual products. Uman4Uman is currently a small team operating mainly through interns and part-time staff. Haja hopes to expand its Sierra Leone office, adding at least two full-time staff members in the near future. In the longer term, she plans to scale the social enterprise model by applying for larger grants and expanding their sales strategy. Seeking out venture capital opportunities will also help her reach her long term goal of reaching more women experiencing menstrual inequity. “We are excited to move towards a more balanced financial model to sustain operations,” she says.
Once Uman4Uman sets foot in the grantseeking world, Haja expects that her social enterprise will make the organization more attractive to funders, highlighting its perseverance and innovative mindset. She also believes that their approach demonstrates their long-term sustainability, as being able to grow without complete reliance on donors proves the value of employing diverse revenue streams.
Donations are also part of the picture. While not a primary source of revenue, donations enable Uman4Uman to expand its services to more women and girls in Sierra Leone. In this way, donors come to feel that they are part of the organization’s mission, which helps build a community of interested and committed sponsors and insulates it against future setbacks.
Expanding access to menstrual health for African women
To date, Uman4Uman has sold 5000 reusable menstrual pads and reached 6500 women with menstrual health workshops. Future plans include testing their model in Guinea and begin offering products and services to Guinean women in the near future. By the end of 2025, they hope to reach 5,000 more girls with menstrual health education and products.
Recently, Uman4Uman partnered with AdvocAid, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to girls and women caught up in Sierra Leone’s legal system, to hold menstrual health workshops and donate sanitary pads for incarcerated women at Freetown Female Correctional Center. The classes showcased essential information on menstrual care, hygiene, and self-care. Following the visit, Madam Alison French, Executive Director of AdvocAid, reflected on the impact of Uman4Uman’s work — not only for the women served by Advocaid, but for all the women and girls whose lives are affected by the organization’s efforts. “This isn’t just about donating pads,” she said. “It’s about providing knowledge that will stay with them, even beyond these walls.”
Connect with Uman4Uman on Instagram or email uman4uman@gmail.com.
#periodpoverty #menstrualhealth #sexeducation #womenshealth #femaleempowerment #menstrualcare #womensempowerment