More information
Description
We want the ''Pink Box'' Foundation to become an inclusive support space for different groups of beneficiaries. Our aim is to facilitate access to menstrual products and to reliable gynaecological education, tailored to the needs of different groups. As part of the project, we will train and prepare the first deaf gynaecological educator in Poland. In this way, we will strengthen the voice of the Deaf community in Poland and enable the free transfer of knowledge, without the intermediaries and difficulties that Deaf people face on a daily basis. Thanks to this, young people will have a better understanding of their bodies and their processes and develop behaviours that will enable them to take care of their health in the future. By involving both girls and boys in the planned workshops, we will systematically abolish menstrual taboos and promote dialogue and an attitude of mutual support.
Summary of project results
We are a space of unconditional support for all people who menstruate. We abolish exclusion and menstrual taboos, fight for access to sanitary pads and tampons in public spaces, hang boxes filled with free sanitary pads and tampons throughout Poland. We educate and strive for equal access to knowledge about menstruation. Together with local communities, we have already managed to place over 14,000 pink boxes (public metal containers) for sanitary pads and tampons in Poland, including: in hospitals, schools and educational institutions, dormitories, social welfare centers, special centers for foreigners, refugee shelters, places of stay for people in a homelessness crisis. Our goal is to reduce menstrual exclusion in Poland and to reach as many people as possible with reliable knowledge about menstruation.
The plan for the development of our foundation is, above all, to continue to strive for access to free sanitary pads in public toilets and equal access to reliable knowledge about menstruation. We are implementing it by gradually expanding the network of local activists who hang pink boxes in their villages and cities, we try to stay in contact with these people/places to make sure that our plan is being implemented. We are also expanding our workshop offer, training ourselves, and implementing an external training project for menstruation educators called the Menstruation Academy.
Products that were created:
3 internal training sessions for foundation members and volunteers
9 educational workshops (including 4 in Polish Sign Language and 1 in Ukrainian)
1 tab on the website regarding the entire project and completed training
5 posts
1 promotional and informational video about the training and workshops conducted. Video published on the foundation''s YouTube channel.
1 promotional photo session of the foundation''s members
1 informational and educational webinar (communication event) entitled “Knowledge about menstruation is the basis of the curriculum”
Number of views:
Facebook - average number of views: 2,000
Instagram - average number of views: 1000
YouTube - average number of video views: 100
Website - average number of visits per month: 200
Thanks to the training we received as part of the project, the foundation members received the necessary knowledge thanks to which they are ready to conduct workshops on menstrual and gynecological health in schools and educational institutions.
Thanks to the workshops, approximately 100 people aged 7 to 17 (including approximately 50 deaf people) gained extensive knowledge about menstruation and gynecological prevention.
We documented the mentioned products and results in various ways. Each activity was documented photographically and described and communicated in the form of posts on social media (Facebook and Instagram). During the training, we kept an attendance list of participants. After conducting some workshops, we received special certificates from the institutions. We also collect appropriate financial documents for each activity (receipts, invoices, train tickets, contracts, payrolls).
Thanks to the activities carried out under the grant, 4 members of our foundation and three volunteers underwent three trainings during which they received knowledge about menstruation, conducting workshops on menstruation, gynecological and oncological prevention, as well as developmental sexology for children and adolescents. All trainings were translated live into Polish Sign Language because one of the participants is deaf. The training consolidated our knowledge and allowed us to acquire the skills needed to conduct workshops in schools. In subsequent activities within the project, members and volunteers conducted 9 workshops on menstrual and gynecological health. 2 workshops were held in primary schools, 2 in community centers, 1 in a center supporting mothers with children from Ukraine and 4 in educational institutions for deaf youth. In addition to training and workshops, communication and promotional activities were carried out, such as; webinar, promotional video, photo session, bookmark on the website and a series of posts with photo reports from individual activities.
Thanks to the activities under the grant from Active Citizens, we managed to strengthen our team internally through training. Those of us who had not had the opportunity to conduct workshops on menstruation yet conducted them for the first time. This knowledge and experience gained will permanently improve the activities of our foundation, which largely focus on reaching young people with education.
Thanks to the workshops, we reached 100 people aged 10 to 17, including deaf people and people from Ukraine.
Thanks to cooperation with Zuzanna Borowska, who is a deaf educator, we gained new opportunities to reach the deaf community. Zuzanna Borowska decided to continue working with us, thanks to which we gained a permanent partner in the foundation who uses Polish Sign Language.
The beneficiaries of the project were primarily young menstruating people (including deaf people) who, thanks to our activities, received knowledge about their own bodies. Secondly, members of our foundation, volunteers and partners in departments received knowledge that they can share widely in the future. Thanks to the implemented communication plan, we gained new recipients who could observe our activities through social media, a webinar or a promotional video available on our YouTube channel.