Hamraah Foundation entered into partnership with GlobalHunt Foundation under CSR initiative by Unicharm India’s menstrual hygiene project SOFI SAHYOGI. Hamraah Foundation launched the project among marginalised women Self Help Groups for sustainable livelihood with the partner GlobalHunt Foundation to further the menstrual hygiene agenda among the underprivileged women of the society.

Sofy Sahyogi Project is the community led project designed by the Unicharm India Pvt Ltd and GlobalHunt Foundation to sensitize the women community on the issue of menstruation. Women over the years have developed negligence over menstrual hygiene and sanitation. This coupled with lack of basic water and sanitation amenities both at the individual and at the community level, non-availability of the sanitary products, dependency on male counterparts for the purchase of products (especially in semi-urban and rural geographies due to restricted mobility) and hesitation towards discussing menstruation in public domain have resulted towards a lack of formulation of objective regulatory policies and practices at social level. Also, among families, distribution of income on the purchase of sanitary products especially for women is seen as a special benefit than as a special need. Therefore, women developed their own practices in respect of usage and disposal which poses threats to their own health.

To address the serious issue of menstrual hygiene Unicharm India CSR initiated a first-of-its-kind “Sahyogi” project in Jahangirpuri slums, New Delhi. Hamraah Foundations partnered with the GlobalHunt foundation and launched the project among ten marginalised women Self Help Groups, comprising of 100 women for the awareness, accessibility and availability of the sanitary napkins at the same time addressing the issue of livelihood of these destitute women.

The prime purpose of the project was to penetrate in those sectors of communities where menstruation and issues related to its hygiene remain unaddressed. To address the issue, the project team identified Sahyogis from the community who acted as change agents for the community. Through Sofy Sahyogi the community gained accessibility to sanitary pads at reasonable price whenever required and with time, ceased their dependency on the male members. Also, from time to time Sofy Sahyogi sensitized women about the issue and provided knowledge on the menstrual hygiene management. The Sahyogi project has been able to break the gap of community interaction and has created two way communications between Unicharm India and local community. The Sahyogis were transformed into the key stakeholders to target for further dissemination of company’s products through Capacity Building & Awareness Sessions.