Purchase Gala 2024
Event Tickets
Event Tickets
The Problem
Shakti Pads
OLTL’s Women’s Alliance is a women’s empowerment initiative aiming to alleviate women’s suffering, raise awareness of women’s health & hygiene, and promote equality for all.
At present, the Women’s Alliance is working towards this goal through Vocational Training Programs, Distribution of Shakti Pads, and Awareness Campaigns on Women’s Health.
251 million menstruating girls in India do not have access to sanitary pads. This is called “Period Poverty”.
Women and girls in India, especially in low income communities, often face a lack of access to menstrual products. Without proper sanitary hygiene products, they resort to using newspapers, dirty rags, and even leaves to manage their periods.
The combination of period poverty, stigmatization, and inadequate reproductive and sexual health education has major consequences for girls’ wellbeing. It can also prevent girls from staying in school and discourages parents from sending their daughters for studies.
Our Response
WOMEN’S ALLIANCE
OLTL’s Shakti Pads are biodegradable sanitary pads made by local women and distributed to hundreds of women living in slums and construction sites.
Vocational Training
Local women are recruited from low-income communities and trained in the manufacturing process of Shakti Pads. They are then hired and given an honest wage. While working for Shakti Pads, these women gain self-confidence and become leaders in their communities.
WOMEN’S HEALTH & HYGIENE EDUCATION
OLTL identifies low-income communities in which access to sanitary pads and proper women’s health would be limited. Awareness campaigns are organized in these areas with the help of local doctors. The campaigns focus on basic women’s health education, hygiene education, and instructions on the use of sanitary pads.
PAD DISTRIBUTION
Awareness campaigns are normally conducted before the mass Pad distributions. In addition, women are invited to pick up their free pads at any time from OLTL’s facility. Every month, OLTL distributed more than 15,000 pads.