• The Twende Initiative

In Swahili, “twende” means “let’s go”, and together with our ambassadors from the communities that we serve, we will go to even the most remote, difficult to access regions.

The Twende Initiative aims to provide women access to safe and affordable menstrual products at the community level
– directly to the last mile.
Femme will train local women to become sales agents in their communities, where they will sell a variety of menstrual products. The sales agents will earn commission on each product sold, earning them income.

  • INCREASE KNOWLEDGE OF MENSTRUAL HEALTH & HYGIENE WITHIN COMMUNITIES

  • BREAK DOWN REPRODUCTIVE TABOOS AND MYTHS

  • DISTRIBUTE A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO MENSTRUAL MANAGEMENT

  • REDUCE THE RATE OF GIRLS MISSING SCHOOL

THE PRODUCTS

Affordable, accessible, available menstruation.

The Twende Initiative will work with a variety of menstrual products to ensure that women have the ability to choose the product that they feel the most comfortable using.

Products will include:

– Menstrual cups (Made of surgical grade silicone. Menstrual cups require very little water to maintain and are safer for a woman’s body than tampons. Femme has seen tremendous success with menstrual cups in East Africa since 2013.)

– Reusable pads

We will eventually expand to include additional SRH products, based off the needs of women in the community. These may include soap, family planning products, etc.

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

The Twende Initiative empowers women through employment of local women as sales agents and providing them with income.

Our method: community meetings and workshops will be the initial entry point; where Femme will be introduced and The Twende Initiative explained. It will provide a platform to talk about the issues surrounding menstruation, and to both sensitise and educate gatekeepers, as well as rouse interest in the project and recruit potential sales agents.

Community workshops will be comprehensive educational sessions where they will be introduced to the menstrual products being offered for sale. It will be an opportunity to sign them up for payment schemes, and, in the initial roll-out phase, learn more about their needs.

AWARDS

Climate Launchpad Winner 2019

World Health Organisation: Top 30 Innovations 2019

Duke Unicef Innovation Accelerator

MORE…

For more information about the Twende Initiative, please contact: info@femmeinternational.org

Our initiative relies on your support. Thank you.

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