Anahat Unnati- By the Women, For the Women

Anahat Unntai aims to tackle the main problem about female menstrual hygiene recognized in India: the expense of modern sanitary products, problem of disposal, complete lack of awareness and information and the social taboos surrounding menstruation. Nearly 40,000 women lose their lives in India due to poor menstrual hygiene annually, 80% uses rags and even sand, ash, leaves and hay as menstrual absorbents, 31% reported drop in productivity during periods, missed an average of 2-3 days of work monthly, 23 million drop out of school at the onset of menstruation every single year. In a study conducted in Government schools of West Bengal under our award winning campaign #Bleedandlearnfreely we arrived at the following findings- 60% of the students did not know about periods before reaching menarche, 58.4% of students defined periods as “Release of dirty blood from the body” whereas 23% students did not know the definition of periods. 14.5% of the students follow norms like ‘no head bath’, 44.3% said they are not allowed to shampoo their hair, 94.1% were not allowed to enter place of worship or do puja and 38.4% were not allowed to touch pickle during menstruation, 15.3% said that they do not prefer to attend school during periods while 16.5% said that they do not attend schools during initial days. While 17.6% said that they prefer to miss school during periods because their school toilets are not in good condition, 25% said that they suffer through pain and hence miss school and 5.9% said they face pad changing problems. The rest stated “Others'' as reasons for missing school. Please refer to the complete report here- https://anahatngo.org/wp-conte...

The social hybrid organization Anahat For Change works towards fulfilling our vision and mission in several ways. Our projects provide alternative livelihood options to women in vulnerable areas of West Bengal and at the same time solves the problem of inaccessibility and affordability of menstrual care products. Our women group makes sustainable reusable cloth pads, underwear, baby diapers and other sustainable products by the brand name “Anahat Unnati” in order to earn an alternative form of livelihood and support their families. The core product in this line of brands is Anahat Unnati Reusable Cloth Pads- which comes in various formats. The most famous format which is desired in India is the foldable cloth pads which do not look like a typical sanitary pad. They look like any other piece of handkerchief but come with wings and leak proof material. Please refer to our website for more details on the product. Our model works in both urban and rural settings- as it provides a safe, sustainable and affordable alternative to disposable pads. A set of Anahat Unnati Pads costs approx Rs 350 which is close to 4.75 $ and lasts for upto 3 years if well taken care of. If we calculate the per month cost on menstrual care products, it comes to a meager amount of approx Rs 10 or  .13$ as compared to disposal pads which have a pocket pinch of approximately Rs 60 per month or .81$ per month. It is not only economical for the user, it also forms a great source of alternative livelihood for the marginalized women groups who make the product in their livelihood centers.  

Our not-for-profit team parallelly runs Project Unnati. Under this project we train women from different parts of India on making Anahat Unnati products and handhold them till they emerge at community leaders and grassroot entrepreneurs. We have trained more than 5000 women all over India and provided skills to make and sell Anahat Unnati sustainable products in their communities. We currently provide livelihood to 1200 women through our brand Anahat Unnati by creating livelihood centres in rural parts of India.  

We sell hygiene kits to humanitarian organizations, government bodies, Corporates and other NGO's in bulk. Whereas we also cater to direct customers through various online platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and our own website (www.anahatunnati.com). Please visit the website to see all our products and instructions to use. 

We have provided (distributed through donation/grants & partly sold) more than 400,000 hygiene kits to more than 100,000 vulnerable menstruators across India. Along with product distribution we focus on providing knowledge and information on menstrual health & hygiene, sustainable menstruation and sexual reproductive health rights. We have reached more than 20,000 adolescent girls in government/low income schools of India with our awareness sessions and hygiene kit distribution. We also work with young girls and women out of school in communities living in vulnerable locations which are difficult to access. We make sure to include men and boys in the conversation around sexual reproductive health and rights. 

Our solution 'Anahat Unnati' sustainable menstrual care products not only provides dignified means of menstruation to women and girls but also empowers several women who are engaged with the brand in the villages. They not just make these products they also sell them in the nearby communities, hospitals, schools, exhibitions etc. This gives them dignity and empowers them to stand for their rights. According to our survey, most women use the extra income to educate their children. 

Our pads, specially the foldable cloth pads which are the most popular among women living in rural areas and for bulk distribution, have Indian Standard Certification (IS:17514:2021) and lasts for up to 2 years. A hygiene kit with 4 reusable cloth pads, 1 storage pouch, 1 leakproof pouch and 1 underwear enables a menstruator to bleed in a dignified manner without incurring extra money on buying pads monthly. Moreover, 90% of our users have given feedbacks that they have experienced less incidents of infections and rashes after switching to cloth pads. The unique shape of the pads also gives menstruators the freedom to dry it out in the open without any shame or stigma.

When we distribute hygiene kits, we not just teach them about cloths pads we also educate them on basics of menstruation, nutrition, hygiene, date calculation and tracking, menstrual cycle, myths and taboo breaking, sustainable menstrual care products like menstrual cups, period underwear etc. Most women/girls we meet they hear about such details of menstruation for the first time from us. We make these sessions participatory and interactive. We also celebrate important days like the World Menstrual Hygiene Day by  performing myth breaking campaigns. Our annual even on myth breaking- 'R FOR RED' which is celebrated each year on menstrual hygiene day brings together runners and cyclists to run for 20 km spreading awareness on importance of MHH and urging people on the streets of Kolkata to normalize talking about it and creating a supportive environment for menstruators around them. 

We recently launched a campaign 'Anahat Unnati Listens'. The campaign encourages young poeple to ask questions about sexual reproductive health & hygiene through our hotline number and email ids. Under this campaign we invited youth-led expert organizations in India to answer some frequently asked questions regarding sexual health and bust some myths regarding SRH. The collaborative videos are available as reels on our social media platforms (Anahat For Change Foundation (@anahatngo)). We also released our comic strip on menstruation called Anahat Unnati Listens which covers topics like breaking myths (periods & pickles), normalizing talking about period products with boys and men (Like a bandaid papa?), introducing sustainable products and breaking bias (Reusable pads), how to have safe sex during periods (periods and safe sex). Please find link of our comics- Anahat Cartoon - Google Drive. We are working to include more comics and reach more adolescent girls in schools through this campaign. Our comics will soon be available on our website for people to download for free.

Anahats comparative advantage is that it is a sole organization working specifically in the space of menstrual health and hygiene with focus on sustainability in West Bengal. Moreover, working in partnerships with community organizations like self-help groups, women cooperatives etc puts us in an advantageous position. Unlike other cloth pad manufacturers or social enterprises- our goal is to equip women with knowledge and ability to manage their menstruation in the most hygienic and sustainable way and not rely on government schemes and donations for their future requirements. Along with the product, livelihood generation and women empowerment is the major focus of the project and it goes hand-in-hand with the product. We work very close with the communities that we serve with our work. Our team is partly deployed in the interior districts of West Bengal as project coordinators and field mobilizers. We hire women from the communities who exhibit leadership skills and train them as our project coordinators. We have a total of 6 women who have full time paid jobs working in long term projects and who belong to the communities they serve.    

Our team is youth-led and youth-run, which means 90% of our team in below the age of 30 years. The founding member and director, Purvi is 30 years old and has been titled as a young changemaker by global organizations and has also been a part of several fellowship programs and pitch events. The other co-founder, Namrata is 40 years old and brings with her 11 years of experience of working in the social sector. Apart from the founder, the program team has 4 female members who works as project managers, coordinators and health trainers having rich background in social work and adolescent health programs. We have 6 full time paid members who are appointed from the community in villages where we run long-term programs on adolescent health and gender justice. 

We have a total team size of 20 members, out of which 2 of our members belong to the Scheduled Tribe community. They work as project coordinator and veterinary for our project in the tea gardens of Lankapara in Alipurduar district. Our intervention in tea gardens is a clear example of our inclusive decision making with the community. In Lankapara tea garden we train women on goat rearing and breeding as a means of alternative livelihood since the tea garden in their area is closed and they do not have constant work all year round. We decided to provide goats to the women cooperative members for breeding and rearing after the discussion with the community and proper skill assessment where we found that the community has been rearing goats from ages. This community of vulnerable women now have an extra income of INR 2000-3500( USD 24- 42) per month through this project. 

Anahat Unnati have 100 new users each month from D2C channels, avg of 500 users from bulk distribution channels each month and a total of 100,000 users in India so far since 2019. In terms of product count we have distributed more than 400,000 reusable pads to vulnerable menstruators across India. 

We have reached 20,000 adolescent girls through our school awareness sessions on menstrual health and hygiene

We have reached 6000 young women and girls in communities- urban and rural with education and awareness on sexual & reproductive health

We have reached 40,000 children in schools with our 'Anahat Unnati Listens' Comics

We provide dignified means of alternative livelihood to over 1293 vulnerable women across India

Every year we reach over 25000 young people through our online and offline campaigns on breaking stereotypes and stigma.

Our sustainable solution 'Anahat Unnati'  has threefold impact in the community- they make excellent durable and sustainable product to be used by menstruators-women and girls in areas were accessibility and affordability is an issue, it is completely handmade by group of women belonging to vulnerable locations such as border village of West Bengal, women tea plantation workers in Darjeeling where it makes an option for alternative livelihood and it reduces the burden on environment by substituting disposal products which takes 500-800 years to completely decompose. Under project Unnati we have distributed more than 400,000 hygiene kits to women in urban slums, villages and tea gardens giving livelihood to more than 1200 women working in South 24 Parganas, Nadia district and Tea Gardens of Darjeeling and several other districts of India. The innovation in the product is its unique shape and variety that can serve all kinds of menstruators. We have more than 7 formats of reusable cloth pads and we have trained women to make these pads in their livelihood centres. We have also assigned duties and skill towards book keeping, order tracking, packaging and quality check. These trainings have created grassroot entrepreneurs in villages. Moreover over product uses a leakproof layer for protection which is a laminated fabric technically called PUL (Polyeutherane Fabric). This fabric makes the pad leakproof and lasts for up to 2 years making the product completely sustainable and long-lasting. So women have been using cloth as a menstrual product see it as an improved version which is easier to use, wash and reuse without leakage issues.   

Another innovation is the three-fold business model and the hybrid model of the organization. We provide skill development training to organizations and individual groups on topics related to MHH and SRH. We provide sustainable menstrual care solutions in bulk quantities to donors, NGO's, International Organizations, Governments and corporate for distribution in marginalized communities. And we direct sell products under the brand 'Anahat Unnati' through various D2C channels including our own website (www.anahatunnati.com).  

Anahat For Change is a hybrid model organization due to the diverse group of people it caters to. We incorporated a not for profit in 2018 which runs social projects, supports trainings and work as implementing agencies for corporates and International NGO's. Please check website of the not-for-profit (www.anahatngo.org).  In 2021, we incorporated a for-profit which takes care of marketing of the brand Anahat Unnati and lets us sell these products online and various other channels. It gives us the flexibility to work with Government and take bulk orders of the product. Since the formation of the for-profit we have been able to sell more products and ultimately train and empower more women by providing alternative livelihood and sale commissions. This model of operations  is currently unexplored in India and very quickly picking up.  

Anahat's Impact Goals for 2025 and its outcomes- 

1. To complete our social impact target to reach 500k vulnerable menstruators by 2025- this will enable them to experience dignified menstruation without any stigma or shame thereby reducing school dropouts, improving productivity, improving knowledge regarding menstrual and sexual heath & informed choices of products and creating jobs for marginalized women. 

2. To create project centres in 6 States of India. Currently we have Centres in 2 States- West Bengal and Assam. By 2025, we want to create project centres in 4 more adjoining eastern States of India thereby proving our scalability. This will create more jobs for grassroot women, increasing sale of sustainable menstrual products and improve knowledge in areas which have gaps. 

3. We aim to drive 40% of sales revenue through e-commerce & our own website (www.anahatunnati.com) with less dependence on bulk orders- Outcome will be constant flow of income for women making the products as well as assured orders per month. 

4. To create sustainable livelihood for 2500+ women through trainings and boosted sale of products. This will help to improve economic conditions of women and their families, increase retention rate in schools and provide dignified life to women and girls. 

Studies in India has shown that there is a direct link