A donation from the Rotary Club of Lloydminster is helping fuel efforts to distribute menstruation kits in the Dominican Republic.
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Mark Woods, Rotary Club of Grande Prairie past president and current chair of international projects and allocations, presented to the Rotary Club of Lloydminster on June 1, outlining their efforts in the Dominican Republic.
“Our goal: keep the girls in school, end taboos around menstruation and stop the teen pregnancy epidemic,” he said of the Days for Girls project.
Woods spoke about the work they do to get the Days for Girls kits to young women in the Dominican Republic.
“A single reusable menstrual hygiene kit can keep a girl in school for that extra week per month for an average of three years,” he said.
He emphasized without proper menstruation products, young women would not be able to attend school, leading to days missed and a higher drop-out rate.
“When she doesn’t graduate, the chance of her ending up in the cycle of poverty is virtually 100 per cent. Days for Girls help to break that cycle of poverty,” said Woods.
In areas they’ve managed to distribute the kits, they’ve already seen success.
“We’ve seen a reduction in school absence from 25 per cent down to about 3 per cent,” he said.
The kits give women everything they need for their periods, including a reusable pad.
“We build them in the Dominican Republic to the Days for Girls gold standard, which is based on 29 different iterations of the product, incorporating feedback from the girls who are using them,” he said.
Education is a major component to their efforts.
“The education covers women’s health and anatomy, male anatomy, how pregnancy happens, use of kits, menstrual cycle, the importance and value of women’s personal safety, self-defence and a prevention of human trafficking component,” Woods explained.
“The education we provide was developed with gynaecologists, delivered by certified ambassadors and our goal is always to reach the girls with the education and kit before their first period.”
Education is also being provided to boys in the country.
Woods also outlined their timeline of work in the Dominican Republic.
“When we started in the Dominican Republic in 2016, menstruation was not a word that was spoken, it was taboo,” he said. “We started focusing on the rural impoverished communities, which have a 22 per cent teen pregnancy rate.”
Kits weren’t being made in the country, rather being sewn by local groups in Alberta. By 2019, they’d hired local women in the Dominican Republic.
Production costs eventually dropped from $25 per kit to just $12.50. Then, just a couple of years ago, the project made major strides forward.
“In 2024, we signed a memorandum of understanding with district 4060, the Rotary district covering the entire Dominican Republic,” said Woods. “We are the provider for Days for Girls for the Dominican Republic.”
Fast forward to this year, they’re producing 6,000 kits a month and they’ve opened a new factory.
The ultimate goal is to reach 250,000 girls.
Woods also highlighted the contributions made by the Rotary Club of Lloydminster to the project. The club donated $4,000, which was matched by the district with an additional $3,200 being added from the world fund, totalling $11,200 donated.
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