At the end of last year, the Collective of Women, Public Policies and Society (Coletivo Mulheres, Políticas Públicas e Sociedade: MUPPS) began its project “My body, My rules: Mobilization for Reproductive Rights.” The initiative, supported by CESE through its Small Projects Programme, is an offshoot of previous projects also supported by the organization, and seeks to construct activities to reduce the impact of menstrual indignity and strengthen the defence of sexual and reproductive rights.
Since October 2023, a number of project activities have taken place, aimed at guaranteeing the right to menstruate with dignity, particularly in Salvador’s public schools. These include roundtable discussions about menstrual dignity and training workshops in making sustainable sanitary pads. The project has also supported the organization and structure of a room with sewing machines to run training in how to make sustainable sanitary pads. So far, more than 400 women have benefited from these activities.
According to Maise Silva, the MUPPS Collective’s Administrative and Fundraising Coordinator, “CESE’s support has been vital for MUPPS’ work in the fight to enforce laws regarding women’s rights in the state of Bahia and in the struggle against the violation of women’s human rights, which happens every day. It is a special organization, which promotes training for small organizations such as MUPPS through support to small projects.”