School Pad Bank Initiative

Across northern Ghana, menstruation remains one of the most overlooked barriers to girls' education. When girls lack access to sanitary products, they miss school — often several days every month. Over the course of a school year, this absenteeism adds up to weeks of lost learning, creating an academic disadvantage that compounds over time. Many girls eventually drop out altogether, not because they are unwilling or unable to learn, but because of a biological reality that no one has ensured they can manage with dignity.

The School Pad Bank Initiative addresses this directly by establishing a reliable supply of sanitary products in partner schools, ensuring that girls can access what they need when they need it — without cost, without stigma, and without missing class. The Pad Bank is managed discreetly within each school, often by a trained female teacher or school health coordinator who can also provide guidance and answer questions in a supportive, confidential setting.

Alongside product distribution, the programme delivers menstrual health education to both girls and boys. These sessions demystify menstruation, challenge harmful taboos, and create a school environment where periods are understood as a normal part of life — not a source of shame or a reason to stay home. By educating boys alongside girls, the programme fosters peer support rather than teasing, building a generation of young people who understand and respect reproductive health.