In India, millions of adolescent girls and women continue to face silent suffering due to the lack of access to safe, affordable, and hygienic menstrual products. The stigma around menstruation, rooted in deep-seated cultural taboos, restricts open conversations and perpetuates harmful myths. In rural and semi-urban communities, girls drop out of school once they reach puberty, women miss workdays due to discomfort, and unhygienic practices such as using rags, newspapers, or ash remain disturbingly common. This isn’t just a health issue—it’s a matter of human dignity, social justice, and gender equality.
Pads for All, an initiative by Vighnaharta Foundation, was born from the urgent need to confront these challenges with dignity, empathy, and practicality. It is a multi-pronged initiative focused on ensuring menstrual hygiene for underprivileged women and girls through three key pillars: free distribution of sanitary pads, menstrual health education, and economic empowerment through local pad production units led by women entrepreneurs.
Over the next two years, the project aims to reach at least 5,000 beneficiaries—schoolgirls, women in underserved communities, and aspiring women entrepreneurs. This is not just a pad distribution campaign; it is a transformative social movement designed to create lasting behavioral change, break menstrual taboos, and build an ecosystem that empowers women across every aspect of their lives.
What sets Pads for All apart is its holistic model. The project doesn’t stop at simply handing out sanitary napkins. It incorporates sustainable solutions, including community-led awareness sessions, skill-building workshops, and local production units, ensuring that menstrual health is no longer seen as a shameful secret, but a basic human right.
Key Components of the Project:
Free and Affordable Access: Sanitary napkins will be distributed free of cost in schools, community centers, and anganwadis. In parallel, affordable options will be made available through women-led supply points to ensure long-term access.
Menstrual Health Education: The foundation will conduct over 50 awareness campaigns involving storytelling, role-play, interactive health talks, and educational material distribution. These sessions aim to challenge taboos and empower girls and women with knowledge about safe menstrual hygiene practices and disposal methods.
Women’s Economic Empowerment: At least 10 women-led micro-enterprises will be established, producing low-cost, eco-friendly sanitary pads. Local women will be trained in both production and business management, providing them with a sustainable livelihood while contributing to community well-being.
Community Partnerships: The project will work closely with schools, local health departments, self-help groups (SHGs), and Panchayats to strengthen its outreach and ensure continuity. Partnerships with CSR wings of companies will further enable funding, scalability, and visibility.
Monitoring and Evaluation: The project is backed by a strong M&E framework, including baseline and endline surveys, attendance tracking, feedback forms, and monthly field reports to continuously improve delivery and impact.
Outcomes Expected:
Why Pads for All is Essential
Current government schemes often focus only on product access and miss the essential educational and behavioral aspects. Furthermore, they frequently fail to penetrate into deeply rural or tribal areas. Pads for All fills these gaps by addressing both access and awareness, and by engaging communities through local women as leaders of change.
Global and National Goal Alignment
The initiative directly contributes to:
Tax Benefits and CSR Compliance
Vighnaharta Foundation is registered under Section 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act:
80G Benefit for Donors: Donors can claim 50% tax deduction on the donated amount.
Example: A ₹10 lakh donation allows a ₹5 lakh deduction from taxable income.
12A Registration: Ensures donations received by the foundation are exempt from income tax, maximizing the funds used for direct impact.
These registrations offer a fully compliant, transparent, and accountable structure, giving CSR partners peace of mind.
Opportunities for Corporate Partners
Long-Term CSR Collaboration: Multi-year partnerships can help scale the project to other regions.
Co-Branding and Visibility: Company logos featured on awareness materials, pad packaging, and in media coverage.
Employee Engagement: Employees can participate in distribution drives, awareness workshops, or share professional skills as mentors.
Custom Reporting: Vighnaharta provides detailed, professional reports on fund utilization, beneficiaries reached, and impact metrics—ideal for ESG reporting.
Pads for All is not merely about distributing hygiene products—it is about restoring dignity, safeguarding health, ensuring educational continuity, and empowering women as changemakers. By integrating product access, awareness, and economic empowerment, the project offers a replicable and scalable model to eliminate period poverty in India.
With your support, we can build a future where no girl skips school and no woman sacrifices her health due to lack of menstrual products. Let’s work together to make menstrual hygiene a right, not a privilege.
