No less than women and men from five West African countries have completed a six-week fellowship designed to equip grassroots advocates with the knowledge and practical skills needed to tackle period poverty, menstrual stigma and reproductive health challenges in their communities.
The Pad-Up Menstrual Change Makers Fellowship, organised by Pad-Up Creations, selected the participants from more than 5,300 applicants across Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia and The Gambia.
The programme combined training in menstrual and reproductive health with advocacy, community mobilisation, leadership, fundraising, grant writing and project development, with participants required to design community-based interventions to be implemented after graduation.
Founder of Pad-Up Creations, Olivia Onyemaobi, said the fellowship was established to build a network of advocates capable of driving menstrual health awareness and improving access to sanitary products at the grassroots.
“We invited people who are passionate about advancing menstrual health across West Africa,” she said. “Beyond training them, we want to ensure they return to their communities with practical projects that can create lasting impact.”
According to Onyemaobi, participants receive mentorship and financial support to help implement their capstone projects, while the organisation also links them with development partners and potential funders to improve the sustainability of their initiatives.
The fellowship comes amid growing concern over period poverty across Africa, where many girls continue to miss school because they lack access to sanitary products, menstrual health education and safe spaces to manage their periods with dignity.
Programme Lead Naomi Ngbede described the response to the fellowship as overwhelming, with more than 5,300 applications received within two weeks.
Following several stages of screening, only 70 participants were admitted.
“We were looking for women who share our vision and have the commitment to create change within their communities,” she said.
Ngbede said the programme deliberately included sessions on fundraising and grant writing to enable participants secure resources needed to sustain their projects beyond the fellowship.
“We encouraged them to start where they are,” she added. “Whether they reach two girls or two hundred, what matters is taking the first step and building from there.”
Projects Targeting Schools and Rural Communities
The fellowship has already inspired a range of community-based projects aimed at addressing menstrual health challenges.
For Omoloye Joy Eniola, the programme provided the practical knowledge she needed to transform a long-held passion into action.
“I always wanted to work with girls in my community but didn’t know how to begin,” she said. “Now I have the tools and confidence to organise school outreaches, provide menstrual health education and support girls from low-income families.”
Another participant, Abdulrazaq Opeyemi, said the training broadened his understanding of menstrual health beyond hygiene.
“It made me realise that menstrual health is also about education, dignity and development,” he said.
Inspired by the fellowship, Ruth Stephen from Nasarawa State developed Project PADHER, Period Awareness, Dignity, Health Education and Resilience, which seeks to establish menstrual health clubs, distribute reusable sanitary pads and provide menstrual health education to adolescent girls in Lafia before expanding to other communities.
“My goal is to ensure girls have access to accurate information and can manage their periods without shame or stigma,” she said.
Beyond Nigeria
The fellowship also drew participants from neighbouring countries confronting similar challenges.
For Akem Aurelia Njang from Cameroon, the programme reinforced ongoing efforts to support girls in the conflict-affected North-West Region.
“In our communities, many girls quietly miss school because they don’t have sanitary pads,” she said. “This fellowship taught me how to transform passion into a structured programme capable of attracting support and delivering measurable impact.”
She has since begun implementing the Pad Up a Girl Campaign, which combines menstrual health education with sanitary pad distribution in schools.
Njang also stressed the importance of involving boys in conversations about menstruation.
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“We often focus on providing sanitary products, but silence and stigma remain major barriers,” she said. “Boys must also be part of the solution if we want to end menstrual stigma.”
From Liberia, Christina Blama-Hessou said the fellowship strengthened her resolve to improve menstrual health education among adolescent girls.
“My first period was surrounded by fear and misinformation,” she recalled. “I don’t want other girls to go through the same experience.”
She plans to implement a project titled What I Wish Someone Had Told Me, which will provide menstrual health education through schools, parents, health workers and peer support groups.
Her long-term ambition is to establish a women’s wellness centre where girls and women can access reliable reproductive health information and support.
Beyond Awareness
Organisers say the fellowship’s impact will be measured not by the number of certificates awarded but by the community projects implemented in the months ahead.
The graduates are expected to establish menstrual health clubs, organise school outreaches, engage parents and community leaders, distribute reusable sanitary products and promote conversations aimed at reducing stigma surrounding menstruation.
As they return to communities across West Africa, the fellows face the challenge of translating six weeks of training into lasting change, ensuring that fewer girls miss school, suffer discrimination or lack access to accurate menstrual health information simply because of their periods.
If sustained, the initiative could contribute to growing grassroots efforts across the region to improve menstrual health awareness while expanding opportunities for girls to remain in school and participate fully in community life.