Make a Girl Smile - Girls Learn How to Make Their Own Sanitary Pads.

Ensuring that girl stay in school and have access to quality education is an important part of CEP Cameroon's mission just as the education and health among females remains a major concern to address within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

 To help girls feel more comfortable in managing their period, CEP Cameroon with support from Everlasting Beauty Outreach trained seventeen girls in the Adamawa region of Cameroon .This month, teenage girls did not only received sanitary pads and hygiene education; they also gained practical skills in producing safe reusable sanitary pads and building self confidence.  The training included sessions on how to use locally sourced fabric to make re-usable hygienic sanitary pads. Each girl went home equipped with reusable sanitary pads she was guided to sew and packs of disposable sanitary pads

In Cameroon like many societies, there are numerous issues that prevent girls from fulfilling their right to an education. One major issue is the lack of access to hygienic sanitary support to mange periods with the stigma that comes with it.  As a result, untapped human potential and gender inequality are prominent.

When girls don’t have access to quality education or skip classes, the cycle of poverty is perpetuated. Helping girls stay in school especially adolescents creates cascading benefits with ripple effects. When Girls stay in school, child marriage goes down, HIV goes down and sexual violence goes down. Educating girls and promoting gender equality can be the key to achieve all SDGs.

Make a Girl Smile -MAGS is an initiative of CEP Cameroon and Everlasting Beauty Outreach Orange, Virginia with the goal of helping girls stay in school by mentoring, counseling and by providing sanitary pads and other hygiene needs. In Cameroon the MAGS program targets three locations which are Ngaoundere, Kumbo and Douala, Cameroon.