A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Thursday 9th January 2025 informed the Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs about a pilot project to construct factories in Sierra Leone for the production of sanitary pads for school going girls, women affected by fistula and the elderly in similar cases.
The project is titled, “Human Capital Development Plus” adding value to Africa’s people for the construction of factories for the manufacture of reusable sanitary towels and diapers.
The general objective of the project is to build factories to manufacture and market sanitary towels and diapers, combat the school dropout of adolescent girls and to provide responses adapted to the intimate needs of women victims of obstetric fistula and elderly women facing unitary retention problems.
Members of the delegation are Madam Finda Koroma, former Vice President of the ECOWAS, Dr. Fatou Sow Saw, Mr. Harouna Moussa, Resident Representative of the ECOWAS Commission, Sandria Oulate Fattoh, Director EGDC-ECOWAS, Isatou Combeh Acting Director, ECOWAS Commission and Salimatu Thiam, PPO Gender, EGDC-ECOWAS.
The main aim of the project is to increase learning amongst girls as well as improve the health status of women suffering from fistula and the elderly in similar situations.
A Memorandum of Underscoring will be signed between the Government of Sierra Leone and ECOWAS for the implementation of the project and a committee setup at national and regional levels.
Furthermore, local and international procurement regulations will be maintained, that Sierra Leone will build and equip the factory while ECOWAS will supervise and that to ensure sustainability, the project would be Public Private Partnership.
Plans are also underway in the future for the factories to produce underwear for boys and girls and related products when additional funds would have been mobilized.
Welcoming the delegation at the Ministry’s conference room on Big Waterloo Street in Freetown, the Minister of Social Welfare, Dr. Isata Mahoi asserted that it is always good to have partnerships to promote development initiatives.
She continued that ECOWAS and Sierra Leone are sisters working together to promote development and enlightened that the project should be celebrated for which two sites have been identified in Kono and Moyamba Districts respectively intimating that the latter has a large number of unemployed girls in addition to the project training female inmates in the future.
The ECOWAS representatives revealed that the project is to support women to have access to quality sanitary pads and related products and highlighted other projects been implemented by the Commission like the award of scholarships.
She also revealed that ECOWAS will establish a Technical Committee to implement the project, that the project is being implemented in the three member- countries: Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Senegal adding that it would help school girls not to drop out of school underscoring that they miss school for weeks during their menstrual period.
According to the ECOWAS delegation, the project is urgent to showcase its achievements as it celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Madam Finda Koroma, another member of the delegation, disclosed that the project would help to accelerate human capital development noting that hundreds of women do not have access to sanitary pads and observed that there are health risks when sanitary pads are not properly used and disposed of.
She continued that the project would encourage other African countries to produce cotton, promote Small and Medium Enterprises and that women and girls would be sensitized on the use and disposal of sanitary pads.
According to Madam Finda Koroma, ECOWAS is partnering with reputable medical experts and institutions to facilitate the project.
Sierra Leone is using millions of dollars to import sanitary pads and related products yearly.
ECOWAS also informed that experience sharing sessions will be organized for the three beneficiary countries and that the project will add value to sanitary pads in Sierra Leone.
The Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs is the project lead while other line Ministries include Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Health and Development and Economic Planning.
