Pad4Progress (P4P)

Ballah was nine when he started to do volunteer work. He joined several groups that fight for children’s rights, both nationally and internationally. Through this he became chairman of Right Holders Network (RHN) in Liberia. RHN is a youth organization that leads the Rights Holders Movement ; a movement of almost a thousand young people who fight for children’s rights in Liberia. As an Action Developer, Ballah has implemented a successful sexual and reproductive health program called Pad4Progress (P4P). He has structured a strong project team that has helped him to implement his project. Ballah realised that it is not easy for women and girls in Africa when they have their menstrual period. There is a strong negativity towards the menstrual period and therefore as little as possible is spoken about it. As a consequence many young girls do not know how to take care of themselves during their menstrual period. And yet taking into consideration that every girl, at some point in her life, will have to go through it. The lack of clean water, sanitary towels, tampons and clean toilets also pose a problem. Ballah wants to bring a change to this. As a man, he thinks it is important to commit to this issue. Read here for more information about Ballah’s project: Pad4Progress (P4P)! Now as a Fund Catcher, Ballah wants to continue this activity, because it is rare for men to take the lead in campaigns of this kind in my country. I am a He for Side ambassador who always wants to pay a lot of attention to the special needs of girls and young women. I believe that this project contributes to the retention of girls in schools, reducing the inequality between them and their male counterparts. Ballah is a changemaker for gender equality and health. In his community menstruation is an important issue, because girls are not educated about it, but also missing school during their period because there are no facilities for them. Ballah and his team are going to raise awareness with his project 'Pad4Progress' (P4P) on menstrual hygiene. He will do this through sessions organised by the health club he has set up and also by campus visitations and focus group discussions. Girls (12-24) will be taught about menstrual hygiene and how to make affordable sanitary pads at home. Besides this, he will spread his message about the importance of menstrual hygiene on the radio and social media. The budget will help to improve his project by investing in publicity (flyers/internet), training sessions (stationaries and hall rental) and media and stakeholders engagement (transport to go to radio talk shows and transport for stakeholders meetings). This all together will help him to spread his message.