To enjoy additional benefits
CONNECT WITH US
Published – June 19, 2024 10:29 pm IST – PUDUCHERRY
French Consul General Lise Talbot Barre hosted a collaboration between the Amritapuri Ashram in Kerala and the NGO Volontariat India, Puducherry for local production of eco-friendly menstrual pads. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The French Consulate has initiated a collaboration between a city NGO and an ashram in Kerala to explore establishing a manufacturing facility for eco-friendly and reusable menstrual pads for adolescent girls and women.
The Consulate has brought together the NGO Volontariat En Inde and the Annai Velangani orphange in the city and the Mata Amritanandamayi Math’s Amritapuri Ashram in Kerala, to advance the idea for a local production unit for the Saukhyam reusable sanitary pads—a symbol of the Amritapuri’s acclaimed success story in advancing women’s empowerment and menstrual hygiene.
The first batch of the highly absorbent napkins made of banana fibre were distributed to a group of users at a recent function hosted at the French Consulate.
The user group was also taken through the do’s and don’ts of washing these reusable pads by volunteers from Amritapuri.
“The idea (of a collaborative production venture) came about during one of our periodic visits to the Amritapuri Ashram in Kerala to offer consular assistance to the French citizens there”, said Lise Talbot Barre, French Consul General, whose jurisdiction spans Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
As she emphasised the three dimensions of the 25 years of the Indo-French strategic partnership that was based on friendship and trust — defence, civil nuclear energy and space; global environmental/climate change challenges and people-to-people partnership — Ms. Barre pointed out that France’s relations with Puducherry predated the with erstwhile Pondicherry administered by Francois Martin its first Governor General as far back as in the latter half of the 17th Century.
The Consul General considered the collaboration to popularise cost-effective and eco-friendly pads to be an important project that addressed the twin issues of women’s health and hygiene and environmental sustainability.
Anju Bist, who heads the Saukhyam project, said the sanitary napkins idea was conceived about seven years ago by Mata Amritanandamayi, out of the belief that many health and education related problems among women and girls in low-income communities could be solved by providing access to the right products for menstrual hygiene.
While an estimated 5,00,000 pads have been distributed to date, enhancing women’s menstrual hygiene and helping eliminate several thousand tonnes of non-biodegradable napkins, awareness about this alternative remains low. That will, hopefully, change with the French Consulate stepping into the picture, she said.
“We will set up local production capacity, conduct awareness workshops and ensure that young girls are empowered with the information to choose the best product from the array”, said Ms. Bist.
A short video about the origins of the award-winning product that symbolises sustainability and women’s empowerment was also screened at the Consulate. The whole process is driven by women: from sourcing, tailoring, operating manufacturing machines to driving CNG-powered mini carriers.
The base resource for the product is banana fibre sourced from agro-waste. This fibre is thoroughly cleansed using state-of-the-art machines. Skilled women separate the banana fibre from the husk in a meticulous process that gives the wearable napkins such high levels of absorbency. The cleaned material is weighed and deep-pressed into sheets that become the core of the pads.
Special care is taken to stitch a leak-proof layer and stringent quality control checks applied before the cotton cloth-wrapped pads are ready for use.
“As important as availability and access to a better product is the willingness for behavourial change and acceptance of an alternative choice”, said Sendil Coumarane, Director of Volontariat.
As part of the collaboration, branching out to Tamil Nadu can also be considered in future, depending on acceptance of the product among women users in Puducherry, he added.
BACK TO TOP
Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.