Story Telling at Irise: Girls’ Voices
31/03/2016 WASH Impact Network Online Seminar www.irise.org.uk info@irise.org.uk @irise_int
The Irise Story: Irise International was founded in response to concerns voiced by East African school girls during research to explore barriers to school engagement. Girls felt that inadequate provision for menstruation was having a negative impact on their ability to engage in education. At the time, there was very little awareness of the issue and a lack of evidence on the impact of the problem and effective interventions. Irise argues that poor Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) is a driver of gender inequality and a barrier to girls’ education and empowerment, but that effective evidence-based solutions can be developed and delivered at scale within 5 years.
The Challenges: Explaining the relevance of the issue to people who have never menstruated and never lived in poverty. Far removed from their daily experience.
Starting conversations around a taboo issue
Communicating how Irise believes the issue fits into the broader girls rights picture. (in the absence of an evidence base)
What we did: Communicated our Theory of Change as the story of one girl (we then set out to prove it!)
Made girls and women’s voices and stories centre stage to bring their experiences alive Made women and girls the heroes of our story.
Used humour and creativity to break the taboo
Voices: case studies, blogs, interviews, poems “I started to have pains on the first day of my period and crawled to the school matron’s door. She told me the pain would cease when I give birth to a child. I started to look forward to having a child. She told me that I was not allowed to take any pain killers because no one is allowed to interfere with the natural process. The pain being natural, I had to bear it.”
“Her beautiful dress Stained … Stained with blood. ‘What on earth is wrong?’”
Voices: from school girls, students, advisors and board members “With the dawn of every single period; the heat, the sitting arrangement, the lack of proper washing facilities, the lack of sanitary pads, the anxiety and self-consciousness made me feel like I was in prison, a monthly prison…The shame of blood leaking through your skirt, boys calling you names, sores and infections, to mention but a few, makes you hate being a young healthy woman”
“Daddy listen to me Please listen Boys laughed at me When they saw blood on my skirt What is happening to me?”
Voices: before and after Irise’s support…
Voices: a chain of empowerment
Communicating our Theory of Change through the story of Mariam‌
Mariam the MHM Superhero Created for the MHM steering Committee in Uganda Used to rally diverse partners around a shared message Very popular internationally and in local schools
Summary of Results: Animation viewed over 10,000 during launch period. Related materials shared over 4,000 times Notable organisations and people sharing the campaign: UNICEF Uganda, New Vision Uganda, The Girl Effect, Professor Linda Scott, Lunette, Caitlin Perez, Guardian Development Pros, SNV World, J&J Global Health, PEAS, The Lancet, Murat Sahin, Marie Stopes UK, African Woman Mag, Andre Picard, Tearfund, Plan Uganda, Pakistan, UK
The Pants Protest: using humour! It’s Pants that girls are missing out because of their periods‌