POWER:Period has been nominated by CanopyLAB for the SDG Tech Awards highlights the best sustainable solutions in Denmark and encourages industry players to implement them on 24 April 2020 as part of Holdbart, a 3-day climate forum.
Who is POWER:Period?
POWER:Period is an NGO founded in late 2018 after reading about the many struggles girls, women and menstruators face daily around the world, all because of their period. This can include missed education, reproductive infections, feeling stigma and shame through a lack of understanding and awareness and even death in ‘menstrual huts’.
There are so many possibilities when we discuss periods and the SDG’s – and our job is to make periods more ‘normal’, reduce the stigma, show that a period is not unclean, dirty or shameful.
Goals & Objectives: Working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
If periods were more accepted in society and more of an understanding, girls could finish school because they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable sitting in bloody underwear when they don’t have a pad or tampon. It in turn can help to raise family standards which affects poverty levels, hunger, reduced inequalities and so many other SDGs.One of these girls could go on to be a marine biologist, helping life under water, or maybe an environmental campaigner – helping with climate change. ALL of the SDG’s can be impacted in some way by menstruation.
There are so many possibilities when we discuss periods and the SDG’s – and our job is to make periods more ‘normal’, reduce the stigma, show that a period is not unclean, dirty or shameful. POWER:Period creates events that celebrate periods, inform and educate through workshops discussing menstrual cups, pads and ways to manage your period. We create booklets for distribution around the world, we ask questions and we listen to our followers so that we can tailor our work. We collaborate with other menstrual companies and utilise our social media to grow our period community and finally we create online courses to help reach a far wider audience.
To have a leading elearning provider like CanopyLAB believe in the work we do means so much to us. Technology is at the forefront of the future and how we learn, inspire and grow to be better.
Collaborating with CanopyLAB
We are delighted to have a partnership with CanopyLAB; our educational work can reach a much further audience than one we could have reached on our own. The courses we have created (and continue to create) enable us to provide a basic menstrual education to many communities that wouldn’t ordinarily get this education.
Follow this link to access POWER:Period’s first course on the LAB: Periods and menstruation
We really appreciate this collaboration because we see periods and the menstrual cycle as a completely normal bodily function. To have a leading elearning provider like CanopyLAB believe in the work we do means so much to us. Technology is at the forefront of the future and how we learn, inspire and grow to be better.
Tech and periods aren’t seen as a natural fit but there’s so much to be gained, things like tracking menstrual cycles, getting information to the most remote, impoverished and rural communities and having those who live there be able to be as informed as everyone else which can only be a benefit to them.
We hope to continue this work, teach more young girls about menstruation around the world and enable more young girls to stay in education for the sake of the future.
POWER:Period- A year in review
We have had huge results in the first year of our NGO:
- A HUGE donation from OrganiCup of 500 menstrual cups to be distributed in Gujurat, India.
- Creating our menstrual education booklet with amazing images from Charlotte Willcox.
- Art events celebrating periods, educational events with US based Put A Cup In It.
- Representatives from Lunette from Finland brought menstrual products for donation in Denmark.
- We have grown our social media following organically to over 6000 followers and see it rising on a daily basis.
- We were asked by CanopyLAB to create elearning courses as a recognised NGO, which solidifies our work and our aim as an NGO.
- Participate in surveys from UNICEF and the UNFPA – which allows our knowledge to be shared.
- More importantly, we have become an online community where questions are asked about periods, where we support each other and show understanding and provide a safe place for everyone who has a period.
- Finally, to be recognised for an SDG Tech Award is beyond our imagination – it’s a privilege to be recognised and can only be a positive for our small but powerful NGO.
At CanopyLAB we designed a simple and social platform for digital learning experiences.
