Always Keeping Girls in School (AKGIS) Baseline Dissemination Meeting
Tabitha Cumi Foundation hosted Principals and Vice Principals from the Always Keeping Girls in School (AKGIS) project implementing Schools in the FCT to a Baseline Dissemination Meeting.
The AKGIS project sponsored by Procter and Gamble and implemented by Tabitha Cumi Foundation is targeted at reaching 1500 direct beneficiaries from FCT and Ogun State, equipping them with the right knowledge on menstruation and menstrual hygiene management, correcting cultural norms, myths, misconceptions, and taboos surrounding menstruation as well as supplying program beneficiaries with sanitary pads for a year. This meeting was to disseminate findings of the baseline assessments conducted in FCT Schools on a sample size of girls using M&E tools like Focus Group Discussions (FGD), Key Informant Interviews (KII) and surveys.
The ED of Tabitha Cumi Foundation Arc. Adetayo Erinle in an address, welcomed all Principals, Vice Principals and other stakeholders and gave a brief background of the AKGIS project, highlighting the milestones. Stakeholders from the FCT Education Secretariat and Universal Basic Education Board delivered good will messages. The TCF M/E officer shared the findings from the baseline study which was an eye opener to the Principals, highlighting the challenges girls face in schools during menstruation and the importance of WASH facilities in their schools.
The event was highly participatory, especially with the male Principals like Mr. Afolabi Joshua of JSS Kuchingoro who said, he now knows that a toilet is as important as a classroom in schools, and he had never really understood its importance and the importance of water to menstrual hygiene in school until now. Principals were very happy with the outcomes and recommendations from the meeting and pledged to sustain program activities and learnings on menstrual hygiene in their schools by establishing AKGIS clubs and paying attention to WASH facilities at program closeout.