IHE (Institute of Home Economics)

Maitri Society

MAITRI : Befriend Menstruation

Maitri– The Sustainable Menstrual Health Society of Institute of Home Economics is the youngest society of the college. It was founded on February 22, 2023, keeping in view the urgent need to educate young girls about sustainable and healthy menstrual hygiene practices and allied issues among the college students as well as communities at large.

More specifically, the society was set up to meet the following objectives:

To address the taboos and stigma associated with menstruation and enable students to communicate and open up with family/peers about menstruation related challenges.
To educate the students about various alternatives of sustainable menstrual hygiene methods. To Promote biodegradable menstrual products and making menstrual hygiene eco-friendly and available to all.
To spread awareness among students about the safe disposal of sanitary napkins in an environment-friendly manner.
To create understanding among the students about problems related to reproductive health such as PCOD and PCOS.
To enable the students to overcome their insecurities about their bodies and to help them develop self-confidence and self-love.

OUR TEAM

ACTIVITIES ORGANISED BY MAITRI:

Pattram project: Maitri launched this project to provide newspapers in college washrooms to the students to enable them to dispose of their menstrual waste in a safe and hygienic manner. The volunteers collected newspapers from the students and faculty through a donation drive, cut them into pieces and placed them for use in all the washrooms of the college. The project was really helpful in maintaining hygiene in the washrooms.
Vikalp 2.0- Ek Naya Tarika– The fest pertaining to ‘periods related health’ of girls and women was organized as part of the ‘Each One Enable One’ community outreach program of the Department of Development Communication and Extension: Some of the activities organized as part of this event to spread knowledge about menstruation and to normalize the conversation related to menstruation were:
- Workshop on ‘My Pad Kit’ in Collaboration with the NGO GOONJ
- PUPPET SHOW on promoting healthy conversation related to menstruation in the home
- Sparkle and Face Painting to spread the message of safe menstruation
- Photo booth with Props to send messages on menstrual health awareness through social media
- Edutainment Games such as ‘Heads-Up Challenge’ and ‘Musical Chair’
- Experience Board wherein the participants provided feedback of their experiences during the festival

The other activities organized by Maitri were:

Making available sanitary napkins to the students in emergency situations at a nominal price to complement the services of the vending machine.
Reel making competition to promote health practices during menstruation
Workshop on Effective Menstrual Hygiene Management to educate students conducted in collaboration with the NGO ‘Pratisandhi’
Screening of documentary and other films in the college followed by discussion among the students to address menstrual issues and menstrual hygiene
Poster Making Competition on various aspects of menstrual health
Exhibition, games and other stalls during the annual NSS event of the college with participation of ‘Pee Safe’ a commercial company producing menstrual hygiene products.