UNICEF Guidance Menstrual Health Hygiene 2019

Guidance on
Menstrual Health
and Hygiene
March 2019
First edition
Programme Division/WASH
3 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017 USA
www.unicef.org/wash
Commentaries represent the personal views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the positions of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The designations employed
in this publication and the presentation of the material do not imply on the part of UNICEF
the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country or
territory, or of its authorities or the delimitations of its frontiers.
Edited by Phil Poirier and designed by Noha Habaieb

Cover photo credits : © UNICEF/UN0145564/Schermbrucker
This guidance is intended to be updated as new evidence and programme experiences

are generated. For more information on this publication or to share your experiences on
menstrual health and hygiene, please contact:
Lizette Burgers, UNICEF Senior WASH Adviser, [email protected]
Patty Alleman, UNICEF Senior Gender Adviser, [email protected]
Guidance on
Menstrual Health
and Hygiene
Contents
Acknowledgements 6
Acronyms 7
Key terms 8
Overview 10
Section 1: Menstrual health and hygiene; a global opportunity 12
1.1 An opportunity 13
1.2 A global goal 15
1.3. UNICEF’s commitment 16
Resources for Section 1 17
Section 2: Programme design 20
2.1 Programming principles 21
2.2 Supporting government leadership 22
2.3 Analysing the situation 25
2.4 Developing a theory of change 29
2.5 Designing for scale 31
2.6 Building the evidence base 32
2.7 Assembling a UNICEF team 34
Section 3: Core package of interventions 38
3.1 Working through national systems 39
3.2 Building skills and capacity 40
3.3 Partnering with others 42
4
3.4 A framework for supporting MHH 44
Pillar 1: Social support 45
Pillar 2: Knowledge and skills 50
Pillar 3: Facilities and services 54
Pillar 4: Menstrual materials and supplies 59
Section 4: MHH for girls and women in vulnerable situations 64
4.1 Reaching girls and women with disabilities 65
4.2 Responding to humanitarian crises 68
4.3 Transgender and non-binary persons 71
Section 5: Learning, monitoring, reporting and evaluation 74
5.1 A global learning agenda 75
5.2 Monitoring 78
5.3 Reporting results within UNICEF 80
5.4 Evaluation 81
Annex I: Key informants 84
Annex II: Example MHH assessment checklist 86
Annex III: JMP core questions and indicators for monitoring 89
WASH in schools relevant to MHM
Table 1: Ten critical determinants for assessing bottlenecks and 28

barriers to equitable outcomes for children
Table 2: Overview of menstrual materials 59
Table 3: Sectoral contribution to MHH in emergencies 70
Table 4: Exemplar topics and research questions around MHM for 76
adolescent girls
Table 5: MHM outcome measures that need standardised definitions 79
Table 6: MHH in UNICEF’s Strategic Plan results framework 81
5
Guidance on menstrual health and hygiene
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to sincerely thank all their key informants for the generosity in
sharing their time and knowledge with us during interviews, responding to information
and resource requests, and more broadly for their continued partnership with UNICEF
on topics related to menstrual health and hygiene. Please refer to Annex I for a list of all
contributors.
Contributors came from the following organisations and country contexts:

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• The Case for Her
• Columbia University
• Global Affairs Canada
• Johns Hopkins University
• Save the Children
• UNFPA
• UN Girls’ Education Initiative
• WaterAid
• WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
• UNICEF Programme Division (Adolescent Development and Participation,
Communication for Development, Disability, Education, Gender, Health, and WASH),
Supply Division, Regional Offices (South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean,
Eastern and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa, Middle East and North Africa,
and East Asia and the Pacific), and country offices (Indonesia, Ethiopia, Philippines,
Bolivia, Zambia, Burkina Faso, and India).
The authors would like to similarly extend sincere gratitude to the internal reviewers who
provided comments on multiple drafts of this guidance: Jérémie Toubkiss (Evaluation
Office); Magdalene Matthews Ofori-kuma (Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office);
Jolly Ann Maulit, Charlotte Pram Nielsen, Yodit Sheido (West and Central Africa Regional
Office); Cristina de Carvalho Eriksson, Ayuko Matsuhashi, Tamara Rusinow, Julia Stricker,
and Megan Tucker (Programme Division). Special thanks to Frank Odhiambo (Chief of
WASH, UNICEF Tanzania) and Esenbek Turusbekov (Climate Change Specialist, UNICEF
Kyrgyzstan) for the additional case studies that they contributed during the review period.
Thanks to Monica Serrano, knowledge management consultant with Programme Division
(WASH) in NY, for her assistance in finalising the guidance.
This guidance owes a debt of gratitude for the work done by many others, notably the
guidance and manuals already produced by other organisations along with the review and
synthesis studies carried out by UNICEF and its partners at the national and regional level.
This guidance was prepared by Leisa Gibson, consultant, and Brooke Yamakoshi, UNICEF
WASH Specialist, with contributions and overall guidance from Lizette Burgers, Senior
WASH Adviser, and Patty Alleman, Senior Gender Adviser.
6
Acronyms
CSE Comprehensive sexuality education
DHS Demographic and health survey
FGD Focus group discussion
FGM/C Female genital mutilation/cutting
GAP Gender Action Plan
JMP WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
MICS Multiple indicator cluster survey
MHM Menstrual hygiene management
MHH Menstrual health and hygiene
NFI Non-food item
WASH Water, sanitation and hygiene
WinS WASH in schools
SRHR Sexual and reproductive health and rights
TOC Theory of change
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund
7
Key terms
Menstruation or menses is the natural bodily process of releasing blood and associated
matter from the uterus through the vagina as part of the menstrual cycle.
Menarche is the onset of menstruation, the time when a girl has her first menstrual
period.
Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) refers to management of hygiene associated

with the menstrual process. WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for
drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene has used the following definition of MHM: ‘Women
and adolescent girls are using a clean menstrual management material to absorb or collect
menstrual blood, that can be changed in privacy as often as necessary for the duration of
a menstrual period, using soap and water for washing the body as required, and having
access to safe and convenient facilities to dispose of used menstrual management
materials. They understand the basic facts linked to the menstrual cycle and how to
manage it with dignity and without discomfort or fear1.
Menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) encompasses both MHM and the broader
systemic factors that link menstruation with health, well-being, gender equality, education,
equity, empowerment, and rights. These systematic factors have been summarised by
UNESCO as accurate and timely knowledge, available, safe, and affordable materials,
informed and comfortable professionals, referral and access to health services, sanitation
and washing facilities, positive social norms, safe and hygienic disposal and advocacy and
policy.
A menstruator is a person who menstruates and therefore has menstrual health and
hygiene needs – including girls, women, transgender and non-binary persons. Throughout
this guidance, the term ‘girls and women’ is used as a shorthand term to increase
readability and refers to all menstruators regardless of gender identity.
Menstrual hygiene materials are the products used to catch menstrual flow, such as
pads, cloths, tampons or cups.
Menstrual supplies are other supportive items needed for MHH, such as body and
laundry soap, underwear and pain relief items.
Menstrual facilities are those facilities most associated with a safe and dignified
menstruation, such as toilets and water infrastructure.
Gender refers to the roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society at a
given time considers appropriate for men and women. These attributes, opportunities and
relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialisation processes. They
are context- and time-specific, and are changeable. Gender determines what is expected,
1WHO/UNICEF (2012) Consultation on draft long list of goal, target and indicator options for future global monitoring of water, sanitation and
hygiene. Available at https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/documents/reports/2017-06/JMP-2012-post2015-consultation.pdf
8
Key terms
allowed and valued in a woman or a man in a given context. In most societies, there
are differences and inequalities between women and men in responsibilities assigned,
activities undertaken, access to and control over resources, as well as decision-making
opportunities. Gender is part of the broader socio-cultural context, as are other important
criteria for socio-cultural analysis such as class, race, poverty level, ethnic group, sexual
orientation, age, etc2.
Transgender (sometimes shortened to ‘trans’) is an umbrella term used to describe

a wide range of identities whose appearance and characteristics are perceived as
gender atypical —including transsexual people and people who identify as third gender.
Transgender women identify as women but were classified as males when they were
born, transgender men identify as men but were classified female when they were born,
while other trans people do not identify with the gender-binary at all3.
Sex (biological sex) is defined as the physical and biological characteristics that distinguish
males and females, such as reproductive organs, chromosomes and hormones4.
Intersex people are born with physical or biological sex characteristics, such as sexual
anatomy, reproductive organs, hormonal patterns and/or chromosomal patterns, which do
not fit the typical sex definitions of male or female. These characteristics may be apparent
at birth or emerge later in life, often at puberty. Intersex people can have any sexual
orientation and gender identity.
© UNICEF/UN0309028/Kokic
2WHO (2011) Gender mainstreaming for health managers: a practical approach. Available at https://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/
knowledge/glossary/en/.
3UN Free & Equal Campaign (2018) Definitions. Available at https://www.unfe.org/definitions/
4WHO (2011) Gender mainstreaming for health managers: a practical approach. Available at https://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/
knowledge/glossary/en/
9
Overview
10
Overview
This guidance was developed for UNICEF WASH, Education, Health, and Gender
specialists or focal points in country offices who are working with their partners to develop
programmes related to menstrual health and hygiene (MHH).
In recognition of the inherently broad programming considerations of MHH, this guidance

is also aimed at UNICEF colleagues from the cross-cutting clusters of Communications for
Development, Adolescent Development and Participation, and Disability. While it is written
from the perspective of a UNICEF staff member, it may also be useful for colleagues from
other agencies who are working to advance menstrual health and hygiene at a national and
sub-national level.
This document is guided by the priorities laid out in UNICEF’s Strategy for WASH 2016-
2030, Strategic Plan 2018-2021, and Gender Action Plan 2018-2021, and is intended to
advance the realisation of the targets contained therein. As such, it focuses on the process
of designing and supporting programmes from the vantage point of UNICEF, rather than
detailed technical notes and descriptions of menstrual health and hygiene programmes.
These detailed technical resources already exist and reference is made to them in each
relevant section.
This guidance is structured into five sections.
Section 1: A global opportunity

This section explains the global interest in supporting MHH through development and
humanitarian programming under the SDGs.
Section 2: Programme design

This section articulates the principles underpinning UNICEF’s MHH programmes and
explains the process to support government leadership, carry out a situation analysis,
develop a theory of change, build an evidence base, estimate programme costs, and
assemble a team.
Section 3: Core package of interventions

This section provides and describes a framework of essential MHH interventions that
are inclusive of all menstruators and which reach the most underserved, with a focus on
working through and strengthening national systems.
Section 4: MHH for girls and women in vulnerable situations

This section is not exhaustive but provides an overview of strategies to reach three
specific populations: girls and women with disabilities, girls and women in humanitarian
action, and transgender or non-binary menstruators.
Section 5: Learning, monitoring, reporting and evaluation

This section provides an overview of the global monitoring and evaluation frameworks for
MHH.
11
Section :
Menstrual health and hygiene;
a global opportunity
12
Section 1: Menstrual Health and Hygiene; a global opportunity
1.1 An opportunity
Menstruation is a natural fact of life and a monthly occurrence for the 1.8 billion girls,
women, transgender men and non-binary persons of reproductive age. Yet millions of
menstruators5 across the world are denied the right to manage their monthly menstrual
cycle in a dignified, healthy way.
Gender inequality, discriminatory social norms, cultural taboos, poverty and lack of basic
services often cause girls’ and women’s menstrual health and hygiene needs to go unmet.
Adolescent girls may face stigma, harassment and social exclusion during menstruation.
Transgender men and non-binary persons who menstruate often face discrimination due
to their gender identity that prevents them from accessing the materials and facilities
that they need. All of this has far-reaching negative impacts on the lives of those who
menstruate: restricting their mobility, freedom and choices; affecting attendance and
participation in school and community life; compromising their safety; and causing stress and
anxiety. The challenges are particularly acute for girls and women in humanitarian crises6.
The onset of menstruation coincides with new opportunities – and vulnerabilities – that
arise during adolescence. Menstrual health and hygiene interventions can be an entry
point for other gender-transformative programmes during this period, like sexual and
reproductive health education and life skills development. By strengthening self-efficacy
and negotiating ability, MHH programmes can help girls build the skills to overcome
obstacles to their health, freedom and development, such as gender-based violence,
child marriage and school dropout. Investments in adolescent girls’ well-being yield triple
dividends: for those girls, for the women they will become, and for the next generation.
What is menstrual health and hygiene?

The term menstrual hygiene management (MHM) originated in the WASH sector. After decades of use,
there is broad understanding and acknowledgement of this term. Importantly, there is also a definition and
emerging attempts at measurement in the context of schools, through the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring
Programme for Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (JMP).
In 2012, the JMP defined MHM as: “Women and adolescent girls are using a clean menstrual
management material to absorb or collect menstrual blood, that can be changed in privacy as often as
necessary for the duration of a menstrual period, using soap and water for washing the body as required,
and having access to facilities to dispose of used menstrual management materials.”
Menstrual health builds on this concept and encompasses the broader impacts of the psychological,
socio-political and environmental factors that accompany menstruation on mental, physical, and emotional
health.
By using the term menstrual health and hygiene in this guidance, we include both the factors included
in the JMP definition of MHM together with the broader systemic factors that link menstruation with
UNICEF’s goals in health, well-being, education, equality and rights. These systematic factors have been
summarised by UNESCO as: accurate and timely knowledge; available, safe, and affordable materials;
informed and comfortable professionals; referral and access to health services; sanitation and washing
facilities; positive social norms; safe and hygienic disposal; and advocacy and policy.
5Throughout this guidance, the term ‘girls and women’ is often used as a stand in for all menstruators regardless of gender identity. This
shorthand is used to increase readability. As part of UNICEF’s commitment to equality and human rights mandate, programmes should be
inclusive of transgender and non-binary persons who have menstrual health and hygiene needs.
6Sommer M., Caruso B.A., Sahin M., Calderon T., Cavill S., Mahon T., et al. (2016) ‘A Time for Global Action: Addressing Girls’ Menstrual Hygiene
Management Needs in Schools’, in PLOS Medicine 13(2): e1001962. Available at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001962
13
MHH and human rights

International human rights law is a binding, and therefore enforceable, legal
framework that defines the relationship between a state (the government) as
‘duty-bearers’ of human rights and people living in that state as ‘rights-holders’.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) are examples of international human rights
treaties that are particularly relevant to MHH.
Understanding MHH within the context of human rights requires a holistic approach
to women’s and girls’ human rights. The biological fact of menstruation, the necessity
of managing menstruation, and society’s response to menstruation is linked with
women’s and girls’ human rights and gender equality. Women and girls encounter
difficulties in managing hygiene during menstruation when they lack the enabling
environment to do so. Notably when they have difficulty exercising their rights
to water, sanitation and education, they will likely have difficulty managing their
menstruation. When women and girls cannot manage their menstrual hygiene, it can
negatively impact their rights, including the rights to education, work and health.
Framing MHM in the context of human rights and gender equality may engage local,
municipal, provincial and national government actors not typically attuned to MHM
concerns, and can support policy arguments for government action.
Adapted from WASH United and Human Rights Watch (2016) Understanding menstrual hygiene and
human rights. Available online at http://menstrualhygieneday.org/menstrual-hygiene-human-rights-issue/
14
© UNICEF/UNI196036/Grile
1.2 A global goal

MHH is important for the fulfilment of girls’ and women’s rights, a key objective of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Women and girls’ access to MHH is a component
of gender-responsive WASH services; SDG 6.2 acknowledges the right to menstrual health
and hygiene, with the explicit aim to, “By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable
sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the
needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations”. Without considering needs
for safe and dignified menstruation, the world cannot achieve the vision for sanitation and
hygiene under Goal 6.
Women and girls’ access to MHH is also central to achieving other SDGs. The lack of
basic knowledge about puberty and menstruation may contribute to early and unwanted
pregnancy; the stress and shame associated with menstruation can negatively affect
mental health; and unhygienic sanitation products may make girls susceptible to
reproductive tract infections – all affecting SDG health outcomes (Goal 3). Girls may be
absent or less attentive in school during menstruation due to a lack of WASH facilities or
support from the school community, affecting education (Goal 4), or at work, affecting
economic opportunities (Goal 8). Gender equality (Goal 5) cannot be achieved when taboos
and myths prevent menstruating women and girls from full participation in society. Failure
to develop markets for quality menstrual materials can impact on sustainable consumption
and production patterns (Goal 12).
MHH in the SDGs
3.7 “…universal 4.1 “…all girls and 5.1 “End all forms 6.2 “…access to 8.8 “…promote safe 12.5 “…reduce
access to sexual boys complete of discrimination adequate and and secure working waste generation…”
and reproductive free, equitable and against all women equitable sanitation environments for all
health-care quality primary and girls…” and hygiene for workers, including 12.9 “Support
services…” and secondary all and end open migrant workers, in developing
education…” 5.5 “Ensure defecation, paying particular women countries to
women’s full special attention migrants…” strengthen their...
4.5 “…eliminate and effective to the needs capacity to move
gender disparities in participation…in of women and towards more
education…” public life.” girls and those sustainable patterns
in vulnerable of consumption and
4.7 “…all learners 5.6 “Ensure situations.” production”
acquire the universal access
knowledge and to sexual and
skills needed to reproductive
promote…human health…”
rights, gender
equality…”
4.a “Build and

upgrade education
facilities that are
child-, disability- and
gender-sensitive…”
15
1.3 UNICEF’s commitment

UNICEF envisions a world where every girl can learn, play, and safeguard her own health
without experiencing stress, shame, or unnecessary barriers to information or supplies during
menstruation. UNICEF’s support to menstrual health and hygiene is aimed at improving
outcomes on education, health, and gender equality for girls and women. By comprehensively
addressing a range of factors - such as building self-efficacy, developing a positive policy
and programme environment, effecting social change and increasing access to materials
and facilities - UNICEF will continue to support girls and women to have the confidence,
knowledge, and skills to manage their menstruation safely, using appropriate materials and
facilities, at home and away from the household.
Specifically, achieving these goals requires addressing four interrelated determinants; social
support, knowledge and skills, facilities and services, and materials and supplies – along
with improvements in the enabling environment through appropriate policies, coordination,
financing, capacity building, and monitoring in the education, health, and WASH sectors.
Because of its transformational potential, MHH is one of UNICEF’s five interlinked priorities
for empowering adolescent girls in its Gender Action Plan 2018-2021, which accompanies
its broader Strategic Plan for the same period and is approved by the Executive Board.
The Gender Action Plan is UNICEF’s commitment to achieving gender equality and girls’
empowerment. The five priorities of the Gender Action Plan, implemented together
and at scale, can dismantle some of the most stubborn barriers to gender equality and
transform the lives of adolescent girls – supporting them to become healthy, educated and
empowered women, able to direct the course of their own lives. The priorities of the Plan
are monitored and reported on annually.
16
© UNICEF/UN0215383/Vishwanathan
Resources for Section 1

Author, title and link Relevance
This strategy guides UNICEF’s organisation-wide contribution to

UNICEF Strategy for Water, Sanitation achieving SDG 6. It is designed to inform and support UNICEF’s core
and Hygiene (2016-2030) planning and strategy processes, and to guide the implementation
of its programmes. It defines the principles to be applied to all
UNICEF (2016) UNICEF’s work and a menu of approaches and results areas to be
tailored to each country’s context.
This evidence paper looks at 10 areas identified by SHARE and

UNICEF on which WASH can plausibly have a strong impact:
The Impact of Water, Sanitation and
diarrhoea, nutrition, complementary food hygiene, female
Hygiene on Key Health and Social
psychosocial stress, violence, maternal and newborn health,
Outcomes: Review of Evidence
menstrual hygiene management, school attendance, oral vaccine
performance, and neglected tropical diseases. The paper indicates
UNICEF and SHARE Consortium (2016)
where evidence-based consensus is emerging or has been
established.
UNICEF’s Strategic Plan, 2018-2021 highlights the organisation’s key

goals and activities, setting out the concrete results that UNICEF
UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2018-2021 aims to achieve for children with its partners over a four-year period.
The summary version outlines the organisational change strategies
UNICEF (2017) and enablers envisioned by the Strategic Plan to achieve those
results, charting a course towards the attainment of the 2030 SDGs
and a better future for every child.
UNICEF Gender Action Plan, 2018-

The Gender Action Plan specifies how UNICEF will promote gender
2021
equality across all of the organisation’s work at the global, regional
and country levels, in alignment with the UNICEF Strategic Plan.
UNICEF (2017)
Global Partnership for Education This is a five-year strategic plan that details the shared mission of the
Strategic Plan, partnership and the steps it will take to get it done. It captures GPE’s
2016-2020 vision, practical approach and dedication to partnership. At the global
level gender equality is both a principle and the third strategic goal
GPE (2016) outlined in the 2020 GPE strategy.
This guidance document seeks to increase coherence, scale up

Programme Guidance for the Second results and establish priorities and guiding principles for UNICEF
Decade: Programming with and for programmes working with and for adolescents, in support of country
Adolescents and regional offices. While the primary target audience of this
document is UNICEF staff, it also provides partners with an overview
UNICEF (2018) of the strategic direction of UNICEF on the second decade of a
child’s life.
17
This comprehensive resource brings together accurate,

Menstrual Hygiene Matters: A resource straightforward, non-judgmental knowledge and practice on
for improving menstrual hygiene around menstrual hygiene programming from around the world to
the world encourage the development of comprehensive and context-specific
approaches to menstrual hygiene. It presents comprehensive and
SHARE & WaterAid (2012) practical guidance on what is already being implemented in different
contexts to encourage replication. The resource is divided into
Modules and Toolkits modules, each with its own toolkit, focusing on various aspects of
Training Guide menstrual hygiene. It was written by Sarah House, Therese Mahon,
and Sue Cavill.
This report gives a concise overview of 1) the state of the evidence

linking menstrual health to health, education, and equality outcomes;
2) a brief landscape of the menstrual health sector, including areas
An Opportunity to Address Menstrual of progress and existing gaps; and 3) conclusions and perspectives
Health and Gendre Equity: A Global on opportunities for working in menstrual health. The report was
Menstrual Health Landscape Analysis prepared with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It
is the result of a review of over 150 peer-reviewed articles and grey
FSG (2016) literature, interviews with 37 global experts, 70-plus interviews with
experts and practitioners in India, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and a review
of relevant programming focused on menstruation, MHM, and
sexual and reproductive health and rights.
This report details the status of MHM in schools in South Asia.

Menstrual hygiene management Progress and gaps are identified in achieving sustainable and
in schools in South Asia: Synthesis inclusive MHM services at scale, and the report draws together
opportunities for further promoting and mainstreaming MHM in
report
schools across South Asia.
UNICEF & WaterAid (2017) The findings are presented in an overall report, a summary, and 8
country specific reports.
This review provides an overview of MHM policies and programmes

in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, with a focus on education,
school and community-based sexuality education, WASH, sexual
Menstrual Health Management in East and reproductive health, workplace support and humanitarian
and Southern Africa: A Review Paper programming, as well as opening up the discussion regarding
marginalized groups of women and girls such as disabled, prisoners
UNFPA (2018) and transgender men. It addresses barriers and enablers for
scalability of MHM programmes such as knowledge, attitudes, and
cultural perceptions, availability of menstrual products and supplies and
sanitation facilities as well as policy.
A comprehensive overview and analysis of the experiences of girls

and women, to establish the current status of MHM programming
and action across the East Asia and the Pacific region. The review
Supporting the Rights of Girls and not only focuses on the school context linked to WASH in Schools
Women through Menstrual Hygiene programming, but also explores MHM in relation to out-of-school youth,
Management in the East Asia and as well as MHM at community level, in humanitarian contexts and in
Pacific Region: Realities, Progress and the workplace.
Opportunities
The findings are presented in two documents:
UNICEF (2016) (1) A regional synthesis report titled “Realities, Progress and
Opportunities”
(2) An implementation guidance note with selected good practices
titled “Regional Good Practice Guidance Note”
18
19
© UNICEF/UN0254128/Pasquall
Section 2:
Programme design
20
2.1 Programming principles

UNICEF will follow a set of guiding principles to achieve our vision for access to safe and dignified
menstruation for all girls and women. These guiding principles ensure that programmes are
building on global good practice and lessons learned from previous experiences.
Gender-equal •
•
MHH programmes reinforce equality between girls and boys.
Women and girls are given opportunities to lead MHH
programmes through participatory approaches to design,
implementation and monitoring.
• Women staff members at UNICEF and partners lead
MHH programmes, in keeping with the WASH section’s
commitment to gender parity in staffing.
• UNICEF WASH staff and partners implement programmes
using gender expertise.
• Technical working groups are led by ministries reponsible

for education or health, and oversee programme design and
implementation.
Government-LEd • MHH programmes align with national strategies and plans in
WASH, education, gender, women, youth, health and other
relevant sectors.
• Governments commit resources for scaling up, based on
evidence of outcomes.
Evidence-based and • Interventions are designed based on a needs assessment;

formative research is widely disseminated.
• Robust monitoring, evaluation, and operational research build
evidence-generating the global evidence base on MHH programmes.
At scale • Programmes are designed for scale through government

systems, based on results monitoring and clear costing.
• Innovations and new partnerships have a pathway to scale.
Capacity-building • Programmes develop technical capacity within UNICEF staff,

governments, partners, community members, girls, boys,
women and men.
• Capacity building focuses on appropriate skills and
knowledge to talk openly about puberty, menstruation, and
girls’ empowerment .
Inclusive • Programmes make special efforts to reach and co-design

with girls with disabilities, girls from minority groups,
transgender or non-binary menstruators.
• Programmes engage men and boys.
Collaborative • MHH research, programmes and results are built into

planning across programmes (WASH, Education, Health,
Nutrition, Child Protection, and cross-cutting areas of Gender,
Adolescent Development, and Disability).
• MHH is an opportunity to strengthen or form new
partnerships with governments, private sector, and civil
society organisations.
21
2.2 Supporting government leadership

Clear government leadership and ministerial ownership of MHH is essential for reaching
adolescent girls at scale. In most cases, however, MHH falls between the mandates
of ministries responsible for health, education, public works and women’s affairs, and
therefore often lacks clear leadership. UNICEF can support governments to determine a
lead ministry responsible for MHH, and help to strengthen ownership through coordination
and government-led multi-stakeholder action.
National or sub-national MHH working groups led by a ministry responsible for either
education or health have been central to the advancement of MHH in many countries
around the world. Such working groups can jointly conduct an MHH situation analysis
and coordinate programme planning, evaluation, and scale up. With a clear responsible
ministry, coordination within government is frequently more effective. In some countries,
an existing platform for school health or girls’ education may be used to advance the
MHH agenda. The decision to use an existing group or create a new one depends on the
context.
An MHH working group provides a platform for civil society, non-governmental

organisations, academia, and private partners to come together under government
leadership in support of shared goals. The process of forming an MHH working group is an
opportunity to carry out a mapping of different partners active in MHH, and other partners
not active but with potential interest in MHH. Engaging a range of actors from across the
national or sub-national sector will provide a solid basis for identifying programme partners
(see section 3.3).
MHH working groups have been essential for generating new evidence, sector-wide
learning from such evidence, and successful interventions in many countries around the
world. The activities of the working group might include evidence generation, advocacy,
or coordination of different actors and initiatives, including the private sector. For example,
in some countries, working groups have presented MHH issues in joint sector reviews,
academic conferences, or ministerial planning and budget meetings.
In humanitarian situations, clear leadership for MHH is equally important. Examples include
MHH as a stand-alone working group or as a component of a technical working group
on hygiene promotion, with a clear coordinator. MHH is frequently coordinated through
the WASH sector or cluster, in close coordination with protection, education, and health
sectors. For more information on MHH in humanitarian response, refer to section 4.2.
22
© UNICEF/UNI82693/Pirozzi
WASH in Schools for Girls: Advocacy and capacity building for

MHM through WASH in Schools
This guidance will draw from examples and experiences accumulated through the
WASH in Schools for Girls, or WinS4Girls, project. WinS4Girls was funded by Global
Affairs Canada from 2014 to 2017 to strengthen evidenced-based advocacy and
action on MHM. With a grant of CA$ 7.5 million (US$ 6.7 million), the project was
implemented in 14 low- and middle-income countries: Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burkina
Faso, Eritrea, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria,
Pakistan, and Zambia.
WinS4Girls was implemented through global, regional and country-level partnerships.

The aim was to use formative research to support evidence-based policies and
interventions that could be taken to scale through education systems. UNICEF
formed partnerships at multiple levels: global partners included Emory University
and Columbia University; country partners included governments, civil society
organisations and academia. The project brought together the WASH, Education,
Adolescent Development and Participation, and Gender sections of UNICEF’s
Programme Division and the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI).
The ultimate outcome of the project was to create a more supportive school
environment, resulting in increased attendance rates of girls at primary and secondary
level. The project was successful in achieving its aims in nearly all countries:
1. Increased understanding of current MHM practices and barriers girls face

in schools: through the strengthening and support of local research partners,
a qualitative assessment was conducted in each project country, leading to the
publication and dissemination of a report detailing current country-specific MHM
practices and the barriers girls face in schools.
2. Increased incorporation of gender-sensitive MHM support into existing
national WASH in Schools (WinS) programmes: through the development
and promotion of country-specific MHM guidance packages based on research
products and a review of the existing MHM and WinS programmes.
3. Increased leadership by ministries of education on MHM: through the
establishment of an MHM Working Group under the auspices of the ministry
of education, and the encouragement of an increased discourse on MHM in
education sector forums as well as appropriate forums in other sectors (including
WASH and health).
4. Increased capacity of global WinS network members on MHM research and
programming: through establishing WinS network partners on MHM (including
the Virtual Conference on MHM in schools and convening the MHM in Ten
conference) and through the development and roll-out of a web-based course on
MHM in WinS, run by an experienced academic institution for participants in the
14 project countries and elsewhere.
The training materials, formative research, and full intervention packages including training, teaching,
and learning materials developed in the 14 countries are available via the online compendium at http://
www.wins4girls.org/.
23
© UNICEF/UNI159374/Pirozzi
Lessons from the field: MHM working groups

MHM Working Groups featured strongly in the WinS4Girls 14-country
project. The early establishment of these working groups ensured later
uptake of research and programming by government and civil society.
For example, in Afghanistan, Eritrea, and Kyrgyzstan, government
involvement in research gave ‘high-level advocates’ such as ministers of
education or first ladies the confidence to break long standing taboos on
menstruation and to speak at national events. In other countries, such as
Bolivia and Zambia, good coordination resulted in many other partners
replicating MHM interventions, supported by their own resources.
Working groups were formed at the national and in some cases

sub-national level and were typically chaired by the ministries
responsible for education with organizational support from a UNICEF
focal person. Some countries are notable for national government
ownership and leadership, such as India, Zambia and Burkina Faso. In
other countries, such as Bolivia and Pakistan, sub-national level provided
the greatest programmatic leadership because of the diversity within
the country.
24
2.3 Analysing the situation

A situation analysis identifies the problem that the intervention seeks to address, the
causes and consequences of this problem, and the opportunities it may present, for
example, synergies with other initiatives, or existing resources that can be leveraged or
strengthened. Developing a shared situation analysis together with partners – such as
those in the MHH working group – is a way of developing a shared understanding of the
problem with decision-makers and actors who can affect girls’ lives. This analysis in turn
informs the development of a theory of change, enables effective coordination of efforts
under a common objective, and helps ensure the effective allocation of resources to
achieve the result.
UNICEF programming is first and foremost built on evidence, generated through national
monitoring systems, research, needs assessments, and programme evaluations. This
requires reviewing the available data and information on MHH in the country. Due to
challenges in monitoring MHH, there are unlikely to be MHH-specific national data
sets. Instead, some inferences can be made through the level of WASH services and
performance on adolescent health and education indicators. In some cases, quantitative
data on MHH is available through the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), national
education management information systems (EMIS), or other sector-specific studies. The
World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme on Drinking Water,
Sanitation, and Hygiene reports on WASH in schools coverage based on national data sets,
and is a good source of data relevant to MHH.
Good quality data for other priorities and programmes related to adolescent girls may be
more readily available and are therefore important to analyse for their relevance to MHH
programmes. Examples of related priorities may be advancing girls’ secondary education,
ending child marriage or female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), avoiding unwanted
or early pregnancy, improving adolescent girls’ nutrition, or ending violence against girls.
Descriptive statistics on these issues are usually available through administrative datasets.
MHH programmes must be appropriate to the situation of adolescent girls in the country;
for instance, if most girls at or before the average age of menarche are not in school, it
makes sense to give greater focus to services reaching girls who are out of school. In
another scenario where girls are affected by high rates of FGM/C, girls may have specific
challenges managing their menstruation that programmes can respond to.
25
© UNICEF/UN0237252/Figula
Sources of data on menstrual health and hygiene

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) provide internationally comparable
data on women and children worldwide. Countries choose questions from the
MICS modules in the standard MICS questionnaires. The revised standard MICS
questionnaires include two specific indicators related to menstruation with related
questions in the Questionnaire for Individual Women. The questions address the days
missed at work or school due to menstruation, materials used, and ability to change
materials in privacy at home. To allow disaggregation of data on menstruation by
disability, UNICEF recommends use of the Child Functioning Module.
Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) is focused on

generating, analysing and disseminating data on an array of indicators to monitor
family planning and WASH. PMA2020 generates data through household, individual
female, and health facility surveys. Some of these indicators are relevant to MHH.
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Drinking Water, Sanitation,

and Hygiene (JMP) is tasked with monitoring global progress towards the
achievement of the SDG targets for water supply and sanitation, including in schools
and health care facilities. The JMP provides indicators and core questions to collect
data on ‘basic’ drinking water, sanitation and handwashing in schools for comparable
national coverage estimates and SDG monitoring. While the core indicators on
sanitation and hygiene in schools and health facilities are related to MHH, an expanded
question set provides suggested questions directly on MHH. In 2018, JMP baseline
report on WASH in Schools found that only 11 countries included MHH questions as
a part of their routine data collection through their national education management
information systems (EMIS).
The JMP also monitors WASH in health care facilities. In contrast to WinS, the JMP
definition of basic sanitation services in health care facilities explicitly specifies at least
one sex-separated toilet with menstrual hygiene facilities. The global monitoring report
for WASH in health care facilities is expected in 2019.
26
© UNICEF/UN064430/Tadesse
In 2016 an estimated 335 million girls went to primary and secondary schools without water and
soap available for washing their hands, bodies, or clothes when changing sanitary pads.
Basic WASH in schools (2016)

• Estimates for 92 countries • Estimates for 101 • Estimates for 81 countries
• 69% of schools had a basic countries • 53% of schools had a basic
drinkling water service • 66% of schools had a basic hygiene service
sanitation water service
100 100 100
19 23
36
80
12 80
12 80
11
60 60 60
- 335 million girls
went to schools
without water and
soap available
40
69 40
66 40
53
20 20 20
0 0 0
World World World
No service No service No service
Limited Limited Limited
Basic Basic Basic
Insufficient data Insufficient data Insufficient data
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 2018
Equally important for programme design is qualitative research on MHH. In an increasing

number of countries, formative studies have been completed to capture the range of girls’
experiences, usually focused on MHH in schools. The quality and scope of such research
varies, and requires careful consideration when being used to inform programme design.
Where gaps exist, there may be a need for additional research to help build the evidence
base (see section 2.6).
After taking stock of the evidence, the next step is to identify and analyse the barriers
and bottlenecks that prevent girls and women from controlling their menstrual health
and hygiene. In many countries around the world where MHH is a component of WASH
in schools programmes, UNICEF country offices have analysed the situation using a
simplified bottleneck analysis (Table 1). Many examples of these completed bottleneck
analyses for WASH in schools can be found online, for example through a compendium of
case studies from the WASH in schools course run by Emory University and developed in
partnership with UNICEF7 . An extensive list of criteria that could be used for a bottleneck
analysis specifically for MHH is included in Annex II. Selected questions can be integrated
into a WASH sector-wide bottleneck analysis using WASH-BAT.
7UNICEF (2012a) WASH in Schools Distance-Learning Course: Learnings from the Field 2012. New York. UNICEF. Available at
https://www.unicef.org/wash/schools/files/WinS_Distance_Learning_Course_-_Learnings_from_the_Field.pdf
27
Table 1: Ten critical determinants for assessing bottlenecks and barriers to

equitable outcomes for children
8
CATEGORY DETERMINANTS OF BOTTLENECKS DESCRIPTION

AND BARRIERS
Social norms Widely followed rules of social behavior
ENABLING
Legislation / policy Adequacy of laws and policy
ENVIRONMENT
Budget / expenditure Allocation and disbursement of required
resources
Management / coordination Roles and accountability / coordination /

partnerships
Availability of essential commodities Essential commodities / inputs required to

SUPPLY / inputs deliver a service or adopt a practice
Access to adequately staffed Physical access to services, facilities and

services, facilities and information information
Financial access Direct and indirect costs for services /

DEMAND practices
Social and cultural practices and Individual / community beliefs, awareness,

beliefs behaviours, practices, attitudes
Continuity of use Completion / continuity in service and practice
Quality Adherence to required quality standards

QUALITY (national or international norms)
Source: UNICEF (2012b) Guidance on Conducting a Situation Analysis of Children’s and Women’s Rights
The analysis will identify the degree to which MHH is already included in education, health
or WASH sector functions. Such functions are known as the enabling environment, and
describe a set of conditions that support the effectiveness, scaling up, sustainability and
replication of MHH interventions and outcomes. Different sectors may have different
frameworks for analysing the enabling environment, and the preferred framework may
depend on the lead ministry of the MHH working group. In the WASH sector, for example,
the enabling environment is frequently thought of by using the five ‘building blocks’,
defined by the Sanitation and Water for All partnership. These are: sector policy and
strategy; institutional arrangements; sector financing; capacity development; and planning,
monitoring, and review.
The final step is validating the analysis, together with girls and women themselves and
partners from the MHH working group. This not only results in a more robust situation
analysis, but also builds stakeholder commitment and facilitates agreement on the
problem, therefore laying the groundwork for a shared way forward.
8UNICEF (2012b) Guidance on Conducting a Situation Analysis of Children’s and Women’s Rights. Available at http://www.
unicefinemergencies.com/downloads/eresource/docs/rights%20based%20equity%20focused%20situation%20analysis%20guidance.pdf
28
2.4 Developing a theory of change

A theory of change (TOC) explains how a series of inputs or activities will produce a series
of results that contribute to achieving the final goal or impact9. Developing a TOC for MHH
will begin with the situation analysis, which will have defined the problem, and builds on
this to outline the desired situation that the intervention is intended to produce. As with
the situation analysis, the MHH working group can play a central role in the development
of the TOC – so that all actors come to a shared understanding of the intervention design
and why each aspect is important.
The TOC represents a plan of how to get from ‘where we are’ to ‘where we want to be’.
Some aspects of the problem will be addressed through the programme or intervention.
Other aspects may not be addressed by it; these will instead either be classified as
‘assumptions’ (for instance, that another actor or intervention is or will be addressing
those aspects) or ‘risks’ (for example, that those aspects will not be addressed at all) in the
TOC. The TOC will outline the situational analysis, assumptions and risks together with the
causal pathway.
During implementation, the TOC can be used to explain how the intervention works, to
maintain focus as unanticipated opportunities arise, to identify the indicators that need
to be monitored and to provide a framework for reporting. It is also a tool to manage and
document adaptations to the intervention during implementation. In some contexts, there
may not be good quality MHH information available for a thorough situation analysis. In
this case, adaptive management – where learning from implementation is used to replace
or reinforce intervention design – becomes an even more important strategy. If such a
strategy is necessary, a robust learning component should be a central element of the
TOC, allowing for the programme approach to be updated as the intervention progresses.
A TOC is important not only for quality intervention design, but also for evaluation, allowing
evaluators to check for success along the causal chain.
Based on global lessons from MHH programmes, UNICEF has developed a general
TOC for MHH programmes (see next page). The TOC for MHH underpins the framework
for MHH programming and sets out the key elements for change; it is not meant to be
prescriptive or limiting and recognises that specific elements of a TOC will vary from
country to country. Depending on the context, a TOC may be conceptualised or presented
differently, for instance as a series of boxes or a matrix.
© UNICEF/UN043868/Lister
9Rogers, P. (2014). Theory of Change: Methodological Briefs – Impact Evaluation No. 2. UNICEF Office of Research. Florence. Available at
https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/747-theory-of-change-methodological-briefs-impact-evaluation-no-2.html.
29
UNICEF Theory of Change for menstrual health and

hygiene programmes
Example of barriers outlined in a situational analysis10 :
• Weak enabling environment, including a lack of political will, lack of policy framework,
and lack of resource allocation.
• Insufficient knowledge, guidance and skills.
• Inadequate access to basic WASH services and MHH-supportive systems (e.g. waste
disposal) in schools, households and health facilities.
• Inadequate access to affordable and appropriate menstrual materials.
• Unsupportive and patriarchical attitudes and social norms around menstruation leading
to stigma, myths and taboos.
Ultimate goals
Improved adolescent Gender equality Girls’ education
health and wellbeing for girls and boys and skills development
Medium-term Girls and women

An improved enabling
changes environment nationally Boys and men, in
manage their
menstruation with
and globally, with their various roles,
safety and dignity using
strengthened political positively support girls
appropriate materials
commitment, resources and women in MHH
and facilities, at home
and knowledge to (individual behaviour
and away from the
support MHH (social and social norm)
household (individual
norm)
behaviour)
Short-term
Girls, women, boys, Girls and women
changes Greater evidence- Education and health
and men improve access MHH-
based public discourse systems have the
individual knowledge supportive facilities,
on MHH and gender capacity to deliver MHH
and attitudes about services, materials and
equality programmes
MHH and related life supplies
Inputs / activities
Teaching and Provision and
Facilitation
learning operation/
Integration Training and Social of access to
Coordination, on MHH in maintenance
Knowledge of MHH into technical mobilisation menstrual
advocacy and formal and of
generation strategies, assistance and materials and
awareness non-formal MHH-res-
and learning guidelines, to develop community pain relief,
raising education ponsive
standards capacity dialogue directly or via
and health WASH
market
programmes facilities
10Adapted from UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (2016). Supporting the Rights of Girls and Women through Menstrual Hygiene
Management in the East Asia and Pacific Region: Realities, Progress and Opportunities. Bangkok, UNICEF. Available at https://www.unicef.
org/eapro/MHM_Realities_Progress_and_OpportunitiesSupporting_opti.pdf
30
An essential element of developing the TOC will be how it feeds into finalising the results
framework; how the intervention’s success will ultimately be measured. The final results
framework should be accompanied by objectively verifiable indicators of achievement,
sources and means of verification, and assumptions. Some MHH-related indicators, such
as those for knowledge or access to facilities, are well-established in the education, health
or WASH sectors. For other areas, such as self-efficacy or confidence, indicators and
means of verification are still under development and lack common definition. For more
guidance on programme monitoring, refer to section 5.
2.5 Designing for scale

Programmes should have a pathway to scale in mind from the start. However, MHH
programmes cannot always rely on robust evaluations of previous programmes to guide
them, because few comprehensive, large scale MHH programmes have been designed
and rigorously evaluated to date.
Instead, UNICEF can use its experience in related areas to model an evidence-based MHH
intervention, for example through WASH in schools programmes, at sufficient scale to
demonstrate its potential and relevance for a sub-national or national government. Such
modelling can be effective and accurate for interventions that utilise systems for delivery
that can be easily replicated at scale, so that costs and effectiveness can be realistically
assessed. Small-scale interventions that have high unit costs with inputs that are not likely
to be replicated at scale, are not a responsible investment of UNICEF resources.
In most cases, UNICEF supports ‘area-wide’ programming; programming that is delivered

through government systems and covers an entire district, or several districts. Such
programmes offer an opportunity to test and refine implementation strategies, build local
capacity and monitoring systems, and learn lessons from successes and failures. For
MHH, area-wide implementation can offer the opportunity to build on the scarce evidence
base, and showcase the potential for MHH programming delivered at scale. In this way
it can help to convince higher-level decision makers to develop enabling policies and
strategies, and allocate resources and capacity for effective, large-scale implementation
through the education or health system.
During a modelling phase, programme costs need careful estimation and tracking. At the
end of a modelling phase, the actual programme delivery costs can be used to estimate
the capacity, time and resources required for a scaled-up programme over a wider
geographic area. A costing model for WinS programming is available for use through a tool
developed by Temple University and UNICEF with input from other WinS partners. The
tool guides the user in elements to consider at the planning phase, and can incorporate
or be adapted for MHH programming. It explores the costs of different WinS programme
options and can aid decision making for integrating WASH into education sector planning
by providing estimated capital and recurring costs. The tool, guidance, and webinar are
available through the WinS Network Yammer page11.
During a modelling phase, output and outcome monitoring is critical to assess readiness
for moving to a larger scale. Such monitoring must include all inputs and activities (to
enable analysis of whether the intervention is being delivered as it was designed), as
well as outputs and outcomes as per the TOC and results framework. Carrying out this
monitoring will require dedicated resources and partnerships that should be included in the
project design from the outset. For more information on monitoring, see section 5.
11The WinS Network on Yammer is accessible here: https://yammer.com/washinschoolsnetwork/. A webinar was held on
WinS costing in February 2017 and associated materials can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r7gzxhy51jzrjdu/
AAAVqsGJGXj7wTE3ZMib71Eja?dl=0
31
2.6 Building the evidence base

In most countries, the evidence base for MHH is limited. Usually, there is a need to
generate more and higher-quality evidence on the impact of MHH on girls’ lives, and
the effectiveness of MHH interventions. Even where previous studies exist on MHH,
information may not be available for specific subpopulations, such as remote geographical
areas, specific cultural or religious groups, girls with varying types of disabilities, or
transgender boys.
It is therefore usually necessary to carry out a specific study as part of programme design.
Existing tools and approaches can be used for developing new formative research on
MHH. In 2014, Emory University, UNGEI, and UNICEF developed the WinS4Girls e-course
on formative research for menstrual hygiene management in schools.
The WinS4Girls e-course in formative research

The WinS4Girls e-course was developed and delivered as part of the WinS4Girls
project, funded by the Government of Canada. Emory University, UNGEI, and UNICEF
developed and delivered the course to strengthen capacity of national research
partners, WASH practitioners and policymakers to carry out qualitative research on
MHH.
The course was originally delivered as 13 web-based lectures over nine months,
complemented by an online discussion board and country-level assignments. A total
of 83 graduates from 13 countries completed their e-learning course by the end of
2015; the graduates included UNICEF Education and WASH officers, Government
counterparts, local partners and researchers. Following the course, additional
WinS4Girls country partners were trained in-country and benefitted from course
materials.
The course content is available at http://washinschoolsmapping.com/the-wins4girls-e-course or at

www.wins4girls.org
The e-course uses a socio-ecological framework to consider multiple factors that affect
menstruating girls. The tools developed for the e-course can aid UNICEF and its partners
in the identification of research questions, methods, and stakeholders, and in the
documentation and dissemination of results.
32
© UNICEF/Indonesia
Socio-ecological framework for framing research

on menstrual hygiene management in schools
Societal factors: Policy, tradition, cultural beliefs
• Desk review : School/gender WASH policies; curriculum and teacher training standards; reports.
• Klls : National and community-level government officials; UNICEF and non-governmental organization staff.
• FGDs and IDLs : Solicitation of norms, beliefs and local knowledge from girls, boys, teachers and mothers.
Environmental factors : Water, sanitation and resource availability

• Observations in schools and communities : WASH conditions; availability and cost of MHM supplies.
• KIIs with teachers : Availability of resources and support for WASH; teachers’role in educating girls.
• FGDs with girls :Perceptions of school environment; use of Wash facilities.
Interpersonal factors : Relationships with family, teachers, peers

• FGDs with girls, boys and mothers : Perceptions of changes in gender roles post-menarche; relationships
with family, peers and teachers; access to support for information, practical guidance and supplies.
• KIIs with teachers : Role of teachers in supporting girls; changes in girls’interactions with others.
Personal factors: Knowledge, skills, beliefs

• FGDs and IDIs with girls : Biological knowledge about menstruation and practical knowledge about
menstrual hygiene management; coping mechanisms and behavioural adaptations; needs; attitudes and
beliefs about menstruation; self-efficacy regarding management.
Biological factors: Age, intensity of menstruation, cycle

• IDIs with girls : Severity of pain, including headaches and cramps, and influence on behaviour
and school experience; intensity of flow and ability to manage menstruation in school setting;
weakness, ability to concentrate, fatigue.
Source: Emory University, UNGEI and UNICEF (2014). WASH in Schools for Girls E-Course. Available online at http://
washinschoolsmapping.com/the-wins4girls-e-course
Formative or operational research on MHH is an opportunity to form new partnerships

with – or expand existing ones to include – national academic and research institutes. Such
partners would ideally be included in the partner mapping carried out by the MHH working
group. In some cases, national academic partners might benefit from the support of an
international academic partner, for capacity building on MHH and support in international
publication. The partnerships formed during research can evolve into a lasting working
relationship and, in the future, potentially expand to encompass project monitoring and
operational research during implementation.
Practical tips for generating evidence on MHH:
• Ensure girls and women lead MHH research, as both researchers and participants.
Include adolescent girls and boys in the research team and provide them with training
and support to lead discussions with other adolescent girls and boys.
• Engage girls with disabilities, through schools or organizations of persons with
disabilities that help to plan and carry out appropriate consultations. Resources such
as the UNICEF Disability Orientation and Inclusive Communication modules can help
to select appropriate research and communication methods.
• Include men and boys to gather information on interpersonal and societal factors, and
to inform the design of targeted communication products to reduce the stigma or bullying.
33
• Ensure an ethical and confidential research process. This includes a clear justification
for research, respectful engagement with participants to obtain informed consent,
privacy in discussions, and a protocol for data security. Refer to the UNICEF Procedure
on Ethics in Evidence Generation for further guidance.
• Invite as many partners as possible to be involved in MHH formative research
through the MHH working group. This helps to develop a shared understanding of the
challenges and opportunities, and helps to ensure more robust data.
• Validate your results with community members or members of the study population.
This is a critical opportunity to ensure that the research findings are faithful to lived
experiences, and a step for accountability to communities.
• Present research findings in education, health and WASH sector meetings. Seek out
sub-national forums, teacher trainings, and other opportunities to share and discuss
findings to have the maximum impact and therefore greater value for the resources
spent in research.
2.7 Assembling a UNICEF team

Within UNICEF, most MHH programmes have been developed or led by the WASH
section, and therefore this guidance focuses primarily on WASH as an entry point for MHH
programmes. WASH specialists typically play a lead role in MHH programme design and
delivery, particularly when service delivery and hygiene promotion are highlighted as areas
of focus by the situation analysis, or during humanitarian response.
However, the multi-sector nature of MHH and the diverse skills needed to effectively
design and support a programme mean that WASH staff cannot design and deliver an
MHH programme alone. Under the Gender Action Plan, UNICEF has committed to expand
and scale up its work on MHM between 2018 and 2021, designing and implementing
a scalable multi-sectoral programming package. The package will cover essential MHM
information, support, services and facilities for adolescent girls in low resource settings;
and will garner the necessary expertise from specialists in education, health, nutrition,
social policy, gender, communication for development, disability inclusion, and adolescent
development. Assembling a team from across UNICEF will also support internal advocacy
for attention to MHH, such as inclusion of MHH in the development of new country
programmes.
Education specialists are crucial partners or programme leads for many reasons. They
support government to develop WASH in schools standards that respond to the needs of
adolescent girls with an inclusive approach, and advocate for national education budgets to
include funding for this work. The sector can integrate MHH into gender-responsive sector
plans and school curricula, develop tools for teachers, parents, girls and boys on puberty
and comprehensive sexuality education, and promote teacher and community training in
MHH and puberty for girls and boys. Schools can address and respond to bullying, social
stigma, and mental health issues associated with MHH as part of violence prevention
programmes. Education colleagues can also advise on reaching children who are out
of school, for example through non-formal education programmes. Data on MHH can
be tracked through education management information systems, and schools and their
communities provide an opportunity to further develop the evidence base on the impact of
gender equitable WASH on educational outcomes (see section 5). The UNGEI and UNICEF
gender responsive education sector plans can assist in planning for a systems-wide
approach to MHH and education.
In the health sector, knowledge products and training on MHH can be integrated into
maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (MNCAH) services and outreach, such as
adolescent health or HPV vaccination programmes, which support girls before and during
puberty. In addition, pain management materials and medications for MHH can be built
34
into health supply chains and training. UNICEF’s health and adolescent programming can
learn from relevant WASH in schools’ work, to integrate delivering MHH information,
supplies, and facilities into their programming. UNICEF can also build the evidence base
on the impact of menstruation on the mental health of girls. Data on adolescent health and
MHH can be tracked through health information management systems, and health clinics
and their communities provide an opportunity to further the evidence base on the impact
of gender-sensitive WASH on health outcomes.
Engaging nutrition specialists may present opportunities to include adolescent girls’

nutrition and support through fortified iron and folate supplements, as well as supporting
the development of national strategies, programmes, and targets to address anaemia in
adolescent girls. Nutrition clinics and their communities provide an opportunity to further
the evidence base on the impact of gender equitable WASH on nutrition outcomes.
Social policy specialists can advise on funding or financing, supporting advocacy for
dedicated budget lines into national plans and assisting with market analysis and research.
Innovation specialists may contribute their expertise in digital platforms or other non-
traditional ways of reaching young people.
Gender specialists can provide technical support on the barriers and opportunities within
programming for girls and women across the sectors involved with MHH programming.
Gender specialists can support MHH programming by providing a multi-sector platform
for engagement through existing national, regional and global gender networks. Gender
specialists or focal points also hold the responsibility for reporting on MHH global results
under UNICEF’s Gender Action Plan.
Communication for development (C4D) specialists are a key resource in implementing

advocacy and social behaviour change programmes for MHH, particularly under the
first pillar of the MHH framework (see section 3.4). In partnership with experts in
gender, education and WASH, C4D specialists can facilitate opportunities and platforms
that amplify the perspectives and voices of girls and women and their experience of
menstruation, especially those from traditionally marginalised and excluded groups.
UNICEF C4D specialists advocate to create an enabling policy and legislative environment
for MHH that produces and sustains social transformation, influencing policy-makers,
political and social leaders.
Child protection specialists can integrate MHH knowledge and skills into programming
to end child marriage, GBV and child violence, and incorporate MHH advocacy into
adolescent girl advocacy and communication. In emergencies where people are
increasingly vulnerable and security risks may be heightened, it is even more important to
include protection specialists as core team members or advisers.
Disability colleagues or focal points can advise the team on ensuring that girls and
women with disabilities are engaged in all aspects of programme planning – from design
to implementation and evaluation. They can recommend partners who specifically work
with children with disabilities and help to make consultations and communication materials
inclusive.
An increasing number of offices have adolescent development and participation

specialists, who are also well-placed to support MHH by integrating it with other
adolescent-specific services and platforms and facilitating opportunities and platforms
that promote engagement by adolescent boys and girls. Adolescent development and
participation specialists have specific expertise in engaging with adolescent girls and
boys, helping to nuance messages or communication platforms that appeal to and are
understood by adolescents and may also be able to reach new partners traditionally not
included in WASH programme design.
35

UNICEF Programme Policy and The PPPM provides up-to-date guidance on UNICEF programme
Procedure Manual (PPPM) operations for use by UNICEF country offices, regional offices, and
headquarter divisions as well as with other UN agencies, external
(Internal link only) partners and counterparts.
Guidance on conducting a rights-based, equity-focused situation

Guidance on Conducting a Situation analysis. Looks at a disaggregated assessment of the status of and
Analysis of Children’s and Women’s trends in the realisation of children’s and women’s rights; an analysis
Rights of the immediate, underlying and structural causes of shortfalls
and disparities across various groups; and policy and programmatic
UNICEF (2012) recommendations to address shortfalls. The document also gives
guidance on bottleneck analysis.
This methodological brief shares information, methods and

Theory of Change: Methodological
recommendations on developing theories of change for projects,
Briefs – Impact Evaluation No.2
programmes, or organisations. The primary audience is UNICEF
staff who conduct, commission or interpret research and evaluation
UNICEF Office of Research (2014)
findings to make decisions about programming, policy and advocacy.
Menstrual Hygiene Matters: A resource

This resource brings together knowledge and practice on MH
for improving menstrual hygiene around
programming from around the world to encourage the development
the world
of comprehensive and context-specific approaches to menstrual
hygiene.
SHARE & WaterAid (2012)
Module 2 provides information on institutional and sector
Module & Toolkit 1 Menstrual
responsibilities, amongst other practical information.
hygiene – the basics
The WinS4Girls e-course was developed and delivered as part of the

14-country UNICEF project funded by the Government of Canada.
WinS4Girls distance learning course The WinS4Girls e-course was designed by the Center for Global Safe
book and materials WASH at Emory University, UNGEI and UNICEF to help strengthen
the capacity of WASH practitioners and policymakers to carry
Emory University, UNGEI and UNICEF
out rigorous research that investigates local MHM practices and
(2015)
challenges. It includes step-by-step modules for planning formative
research into MHM.
In 2012, UNICEF and the Center for Global Safe Water at Emory
Tools for Assessing Menstrual Hygiene University initiated a programme to support collaborative research
Management in Schools focused on MHM in Bolivia, the Philippines, Rwanda and Sierra
Leone. The assessment results are now published as a series of
UNICEF and Emory University (2013) reports. All of the tools presented here are meant to be used and
adapted for assessments around the world.
36
UNICEF Procedure for Vertical

Standards in Research, Evaluation, In order to ensure the protection of, and respect for, human and
Data Collection and Analysis child rights within all research, evaluation and data collection
processes undertaken or commissioned by UNICEF, this guidance
UNICEF (2015) illustrates procedures designed to achieve the following objectives:
to establish minimum and binding standards for ethical research,
E-learning course available on Agora evaluation and data collection and analysis processes in UNICEF
globally; and to ensure effective processes and accountability for
Ethical Research Involving Children ethical oversight of these processes.
(ERIC)
A web-based training for staff which is open to UNICEF and

external partners. It is a multi-media, 40-minute video that includes
Disability Orientation interesting and thought-provoking statements, resources and
good practices from UNICEF and partners from across the globe.
UNICEF It strengthens an understanding of, and capacity to support,
programming for children and women with disabilities. Available in
English, Spanish, French with accessibility features.
Based on the Disability Orientation training, and open to UNICEF

and external partners. The Inclusive Communication Module is
dynamic and engaging. The content is divided into three chapters
of 15-20 minutes each, and contains examples from over 30
Inclusive Communication Module
country offices. Upon completion of the module, it is expected
that participants will be able to: use appropriate terminology when
UNICEF
communicating about children with disabilities; confidently interact
with persons with disabilities; and develop materials and organise
meetings that are inclusive of and accessible to people with
disabilities. Available in English with accessibility features.
WinS Costing Tool The tool was developed to support costing of WinS programming
options on a macro scale. The tool will help guide the user in what
Temple University and UNICEF (2016) elements to consider when planning a WinS programme. The tool
can help the user explore the costs of different WinS programme
(UNICEF internal links only) options that meet their context and needs. The tool can support
Costing tool (xls) decision making for integrating WASH into education sector
User’s manual (doc) planning, by providing estimated capital and recurring costs.
The Save the Children MHM Operational Guidelines consist of

Save the Children Operational
three written chapters with corresponding appendices that provide
Guidelines on MHM
explicit and comprehensive guidance on: conducting an MHM
situation analysis, designing an MHM programme and monitoring
Save the Children (2016)
and evaluating an MHM programme. The MHM guidelines were
reviewed and piloted internally by Save the Children and reviewed by
Accompanying documents
external MHM stakeholders (including UNICEF).
37
Section 3:
Core package of interventions
38
This section presents UNICEF’s framework for MHH programming and the suggested
package of interventions to achieve change. Ultimately, the goal is a validated intervention,
modelled at a sub-national scale, that can be delivered through into government systems
and programmes.
A core MHH intervention package addresses four areas, or ‘pillars’ for programming:
Social support Knowledge and skills facilities and services materials
The intervention package is further supported by working to improve and make changes to
the enabling environment. When planning to implement MHH programmes, consider the
partnerships or actions that UNICEF can take to support all four of the MHH programmatic
pillars. Common characteristics of the most successful MHH programmes initiated by UNICEF
country offices are that they:
• Address all four programmatic pillars, based on a robust situation analysis needs
assessment;
• Strengthen the enabling environment for the integration of MHH into WASH and education
sector policies, standards, and/or guidelines, financing plans, and/or monitoring systems;
• Consider scale from the start, modelling the programme at an area-wide scale and
facilitating uptake through national education systems;
• Work through government systems to provide or improve WASH facilities and strengthen
product availability, particularly in humanitarian crises.
3.1 Working through national systems

Using the UNICEF Strategic Plan (2018-2021) as a guide, there are opportunities to
advance MHM through many different other goal areas and sectors. MHH is usually only
one component of a national WASH, health or education sector programme. Working
through an existing sector programme may be the most efficient route to achieving scale,
sustainability, and equality: for example, a well-designed MHH intervention could be added
to existing successful programmes in WASH in schools, skills development, sexual and
reproductive health and rights, adolescent nutrition, or adolescent participation.
Programmes designed for national systems must have a clear TOC, results framework
with regular output and outcome monitoring, and a calculation of the costs of going to
scale while maintaining quality. UNICEF country offices may choose to concentrate efforts
on a limited number of core, evidence-based interventions, focused in limited geographic
areas, that have the potential to be scaled up. As discussed in section 2.5, area-wide
implementation can provide a critical opportunity for evidence generation until higher-level
decision makers are convinced to develop enabling policies and strategies, and allocate
resources and capacity for effective, large-scale implementation through the education or
health system.
It is important to support both the national (normative) and sub-national (service delivery)
level, recognizing that the level of decentralization may vary between sectors. For instance,
39
a health system in a given country may be quite decentralized, while the education system
in the same country might still be highly centralized. Such a scenario would require
engagement and coordination at multiple levels.
Resources for working through national systems

This Guidance Note is designed to familiarize UNICEF WASH

Strengthening Enabling Environment
country staff with the concepts and importance of each enabling
for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
environment function, to aid understanding of the logic of
addressing enabling environment, and to give sources of additional
UNICEF (2016)
information.
These guidelines on developing gender-responsive

education sector plans provide information and tools needed to take
Guidance for Developing Gender- a fresh look at gender equality, and why it matters in education. It
Responsive Education Sector Plans is intended to provide opportunities for readers to i) identify critical
gender disparities and the factors contributing to them; ii) analyse
Global Partnership for Education and and interpret gender disparities, channelling such insights into
UNGEI (2017) the education sector plan consultative process; and iii) evaluate
the extent to which gender equality issues are understood and
addressed in the education sector plan.

the world
SHARE & WaterAid (2012) hygiene.
Module & Toolkit 2 Menstrual Module 2 provides information on institutional and sector
hygiene – getting started responsibilities, amongst other practical information.
3.2 Building skills and capacity

Menstrual health and hygiene is an emerging area of work for many organisations,
meaning that staff may well lack the knowledge and skills required to design and
implement successful MHH programmes. Initiating work in MHH often begins with
building capacity amongst colleagues from UNICEF and its partners - from the relevant
ministry at a central level down to field staff - to effectively design and deliver MHH
programmes. Training and facilitation resources such as those included in the ‘Resources’
section next page can equip programme managers to discuss in contexts where it remains
an uncomfortable topic, even amongst health and education sector professionals.
The first step in setting capacity building priorities is understanding the beginning (existing
capacity) and the end point (desired capacity). The MHH working group is platform for
facilitating a participatory capacity assessment and goal setting. Through this process,
working group members can assess their own strengths and weaknesses, such as
gaps in knowledge or staff capacity that can be addressed as a component of an MHH
programme.
At the national level, members of MHH working groups will need to understand the impact
of MHH on health and education. Engaging these influencers in the process of formative
40
research on social beliefs and practices can equip them to carry out evidence-based
advocacy on MHH with confidence.
In the field, local government, civil society organisations, schools, and other partners delivering
programmes need training in basic facts about menstruation and ways of improving menstrual
hygiene if they are to effectively deliver programmes or train others. Building these skills is a
key step in UNICEF programmes.
Gender-balanced staffing of UNICEF and its implementing partners is critical to equality and
programme success. As an agency with a mandate related to human rights, UNICEF must
lead by example by enabling both women and men to lead MHH programmes. UNICEF also
plays an important role in supporting implementing partners, such as CSOs, to ensure that a
minimum of half of their staff active on MHH programmes is comprised of women, as in most
cases, children will prefer to speak with others of their same gender about menstruation. For a
similar reason, the involvement of men is important.
Some practical tips to build capacity and encourage learning and discussion about MHH:
• Design and deliver basic training on MHH for UNICEF and its partners at different levels
of programme implementation depending on specific roles. Use participatory, interactive,
and engaging training methods. Avoid messaging that merely attempts to merely ‘teach’,
as it is likely to be ineffective.
• Hold dialogues with partners where men and women feel free to ask questions and
discuss MHH without judgment. Encourage the safe exploration of personal values and
biases that may affect programmes.
• Encourage staff to physically examine, compare, and discuss a range of menstrual hygiene
materials available in the country or locally.
• Ask staff to document and share their experiences (if any), in implementing MHH
programmes or conducting MHH research to facilitate sharing of best practices and
learning.
• Document case studies and examples of good practice from other organisations and
countries, and share them with staff to celebrate successes and learn from challenges.
• Join global webinars and discussions, such as those facilitated through the WASH in
Schools Network and the Virtual Conference on MHM in Schools.
Many resources exist that can help design appropriate trainings and activities to build capacity.
They are comprehensive works, the specific details of which are not repeated, but rather
outlined as resources below.
Resources for building skills and capacity

Menstrual Hygiene Matters: A resource This resource brings together knowledge and practice on MH
for improving menstrual hygiene around programming from around the world to encourage the development
the world of comprehensive and context-specific approaches to menstrual
hygiene.
Training Guide The training guide provides resources for capacity development.
The MHM in Emergencies Toolkit aims to provide streamlined

MHM in Emergencies Toolkit: training
guidance to support organisations and agencies seeking to rapidly
resources
integrate MHM into existing programming across sectors
and phases. The training resources are aimed at humanitarian
Columbia University and the IRC (2017)
response situations.
41
3.3 Partnering with others

Partnerships and collaborative relationships are critical to UNICEF’s ability to deliver results
and to realise children’s rights. To accomplish our mandate, UNICEF works with a broad
range of partners all over the world at a global, regional and national level; for example,
governments, civil society, private sector, media, and knowledge partners. Both formal
and non-formal partnerships can be highly valuable. However, when the relationship is
formalised (e.g., to provide a legal basis for transfer of resources), it should be governed by
the relevant organisational procedures and guidelines.
At the global level, UNICEF is a member of worldwide and regional programme

partnerships relevant to MHH that include governments, donors, UN agencies,
international NGOs, and academic partners. Specifically focused on MHH, UNICEF co-
convenes the MHM in Ten group of partners (see box below), while UNFPA coordinates
an Africa Menstrual Health Coalition. In the WASH sector, the most relevant global
partnership is Sanitation and Water for All. At the regional level, sanitation conferences
(e.g., SacoSan, LatinoSan, AfricaSan) and their hosting organisations can provide an
additional forum for the inclusion of MHH. In the education sector, UNICEF is a member
of the Global Partnership for Education and the UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI).
UNICEF also has specific partnerships for protection and gender equality, such as the
UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage. In 2018,
UNICEF helped to launch a new global partnership called Generation Unlimited, aimed at
education and skills for young people.
At the country level, advancing MHH requires collaboration and often formal partnership
with all actor groups, bringing all of their complementary skills to the table. Through the
MHH working group or simply as a rapid first step, UNICEF can initiate or facilitate a
partner mapping exercise to understand the key actors in MHH at a regional, national or
sub-national level. UNICEF’s Toolkit for Working with Civil Society (see ‘Resources
for partnership’ section next page) includes sample tools for capacity assessments. In
this process, it is important to include local civil society and grassroots organisations led
by women and adolescent girls to ensure that programming is effective and advocacy
efforts line up with relevant national movements. For inclusive programming, it is similarly
important to include organisations serving people in vulnerable situations, and those
who are traditionally excluded, such as organizations of persons with disabilities or those
running programmes supporting out of school children.
Building communities for learning: The Virtual Conference on MHM

in schools and MHM in Ten
UNICEF supports global partnerships and learning through the MHM in Ten meeting
and the Virtual Conference on MHM in Schools. Through both forums, global experts
in MHH programming meet to document programming, share lessons learnt and set
good practice and policy in MHH programming. The virtual conference gives online
participants an opportunity to network, discuss key issues of relevance for advancing
the agenda of MHH in schools, and identify potential future collaborations.
MHM in Ten, convened by Columbia University and UNICEF, was first convened in 2014
to launch a ten-year agenda for MHH in schools (leading to its name). MHM in Ten
brings together a wide range of actors, including academics, donors, non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), United Nations agencies and the private sector – and from a
variety of policy areas, including water, sanitation and hygiene, education, gender, sexual
and reproductive health and adolescent development.
For more information on both, visit www.mhmvirtualconference.com.

42
Resources for partnership

Provides all resources to explain and support UNICEF’s procedure

for working with civil society organisations. It explains the
UNICEF Toolkit for Working with Civil
requirements for each stage of the partnership process: initiating;
Society Organizations
formalising; implementing, monitoring and reporting; concluding
partnerships. The toolkit provides access to key reference
Public website
documents for partnering with CSOs: The CSO Procedure and its
Internal microsite (UNICEF access only)
annexes; roll-out materials; and training materials for UNICEF and
CSO staff.
The Virtual Conference on MHM in Schools is an annual event,

Virtual Conference on MHM in Schools first held in 2012, that brings together over 1,000 practitioners and
researchers from around the world to review the latest research and
Columbia University and UNICEF programme examples on MHM in schools. Specific proceedings of
the previous conferences are also available.
This site provides reports from the meetings of the MHM in Ten
MHM in Ten collaboration of partners. MHM in Ten is a ten-year agenda for MHM
in WASH in schools, developed by a wide range of actors, including
Columbia University and UNICEF academics, donors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), United
Nations agencies and the private sector, from a variety of sectors.
43
© UNICEF/UN064387/Tadesse
3.4 A framework for supporting MHH

The framework for MHH outlines four pillars of programming underpinned by the
programming principles (section 2.1). As cornerstones of an MHH intervention, the four
pillars support results in four key areas that together can achieve UNICEF’s objective:
ensuring that girls and women have the confidence, knowledge and skills to manage their
menstruation safely.
Framework for MHM programming

• Education, health and/or WASH sector policies, standards and guidelines
Enabling •
include MHH
National or local governments allocate resources for MHH
environment • Actors coordinate through government-led MHH working group
• MHH is included in sector planning, monitoring, and review systems and
processes
Social Knowledge and facilities

Pillar support skills and services materials
Girls and
Girls and
End to Girls and women use
women
Objective menstrual
stigma and
women learn
to manage
use gender-
appropriate
and affordable
responsive
discrimination menstruation menstrual
WASH facilities
materials
Activities
Public advocacy. Development Set standards and Assess preferences
of teaching and develop guidelines of girls and women.
Evidence-based learning materials. for gender-
advocacy to responsive WASH Assess product
decision-makers. Inclusion of MHH services. availability through
in education and markets.
Social mobilisation health programmes Ensure gender-
through schools and to build knowledge responsive Develop national
communities. and skills for girls WASH facilities in standards for
and boys. schools and health menstrual materials.
Interpersonal care facilities,
communication to Engagement in development Support enterprises
change attitudes, of parents and and humanitarian and entrepreneurs
beliefs and norms. community leaders. contexts. to respond to
girls’ needs and
Digital engagement Training of teachers Cost and allocate preferences.
and participation of and health workers. funds for operation
young people. and maintenance. Supply materials in
Evidence generation schools and health
Evidence generation and monitoring. Monitor access care facilities.
and monitoring. and evaluate
intervention. Evaluate products
and interventions.
44
Pillar 1: Social support

The social support pillar aims to end stigma and discrimination against menstruating
girls and women by promoting positive support for menstruators. In most of the world,
stigma surrounds menstruation, including banning menstruating women and girls from a
variety of activities, preventing a factual discussion of menstruation and puberty. Without
a supportive social environment, girls around the world have reported bullying and stress
related to menstruating. Transgender men and non-binary persons face additional stigma
when seeking MHH information, materials and services, as do people from other excluded
or marginalized groups.
Garnering social support for menstruators requires advocacy on a range of levels. UNICEF
defines advocacy as ‘the deliberate process, based on demonstrated evidence, to directly
and indirectly influence decision-makers, stakeholders and relevant audiences to support
and implement actions that contribute to the fulfilment of children’s and women’s rights12.
Advocacy requires continuous efforts to translate relevant information into clear arguments
or justifications, and to communicate the arguments in an appropriate manner to decision-
makers. The purpose of advocacy might be to promote policy changes, redefine social
norms, or influence funding decisions.
Developing an advocacy strategy

Creating an advocacy strategy helps to: understand the situation, stakeholders and
their relative power, and how change happens; identify target audiences, the right
messages, and the right messenger to deliver the message; identify processes,
opportunities and entry points; recognise capacity and gaps; and finally set goals and
interim outcomes, develop an action plan, and monitor and evaluate results.
The Advocacy Toolkit presents ‘Nine Questions’ developed by Jim Schultz, founder and
executive director of The Democracy Center, for planning an advocacy strategy and
provides tools and guidance:
1. What do we want?
2. Who can make it happen?
3. What do they need to hear?
4. Who do they need to hear it from?
5. How can we make sure they hear it?
6. What do we have?
7. What do we need?
8. How do we begin to take action?
9. How can we tell if it’s working?
Source: UNICEF (2010) Advocacy Toolkit: A guide to influencing decisions that improve children’s lives.
New York. UNICEF.
12UNICEF (2010) Advocacy Toolkit: A guide to influencing decisions that improve children’s lives. New York. UNICEF.
Available at https://www.unicef.org/evaluation/files/Advocacy_Toolkit.pdf
45
Designing a successful advocacy strategy depends on knowing the local context, having
the evidence, and setting clear goals. Formative research is a critical part of both knowing
the context and having the evidence to back up your argument. It is the avenue through
which you can identify harmful beliefs, attitudes, and practices, and identify the biggest
influencers of girls’ ability to manage their menstruation. Even more effective – though
usually less available – is any evidence of effective programmes, which will inform
advocacy with decision makers for specific policy changes or budget allocations.
Once as clear a picture as possible of the context is understood, programme planners can
consider a range of advocacy activities to build a more supportive social environment for
girls and women. These include:
• Awareness raising, campaigning and media engagement to mobilise the public around
the advocacy issue, change perceptions, and build support to influence decision-
makers and stakeholders. For example, UNICEF Ghana used the results of their
formative research to inform a general campaign called ‘Be Amazing! Period’ that
featured media celebrities speaking out about the major barriers to MHM in schools.
Partners to consider for public advocacy and campaigns are social or traditional
media, civil society groups, and faith-based organisations. International campaign
days such as Menstrual Hygiene Day, World Water Day, International Women’s Day,
or International Day of the Girl provide useful milestones for public engagement and
consistent messaging with partners.
• Evidence generation and dissemination through publications, conferences, and events.

These can illustrate the underlying causes of girls’ difficulty with MHH as well as
potential solutions, drawing recommendations that can be addressed by decision-
makers. Workshops or review meetings, focused on a report or strategy, can bring
together stakeholders and decision-makers to review evidence and identify solutions.
A key element of such fora is to ensure there are immediate and allocated follow-up
actions or commitments, so that momentum is not lost. In addition to national forums,
key regional opportunities include regional sanitation conferences (e.g., SacoSan,
LatinoSan, AfricaSan) and the Asia international learning exchange on WASH in
schools.
• Evidence-based advocacy to decision-makers for specific actions, based on robust

evidence. Examples of such specific actions might be including MHH in WASH in
schools guidelines, or allocating funds for implementation. Such advocacy must be
based on evidence of successful and cost-effective MHH implementation delivered
at scale (e.g., district-level programming delivered by government education or health
systems). Key partners might be the national MHH working group, and decision-
makers might include governments or donors.
• Social mobilisation to engage and motivate a wide range of partners at national and
local levels in support of a common goal. This targets the rights-holders (girls, women,
and other menstruators) to demand changes that will enable MHH; allies and partners
must be mobilised if barriers to implementation of programmes are to be overcome.
UNICEF therefore continues to forge strong partnerships with community networks,
civic and religious groups, traditional leaderships, youth organisations and others,
including those who are marginalised.
• Interpersonal communication to change knowledge, attitudes and practices related

to MHH. Individual behaviours are shaped by social, cultural, economic and political
contexts, and therefore require interactive approaches and a mix of communication
channels in order to encourage and sustain positive and safe behaviours. To result in
behaviour change, groups of individuals must be empowered through a participatory
process, creating a platform to define their needs and giving them a voice to demand
46
their rights. To accomplish this, UNICEF works with implementing partners from civil
society to engage students, teachers, school management committees, and parents
towards a common MHH outcome.
• Digital engagement with young people. This can be extremely effective in many
countries, where UNICEF can reach significant numbers of young people – in the
thousands or millions – through digital platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, or
U-Report. These platforms can be accessed in private and used to access information
or service providers. In many countries, however, adolescent girls’ access to these
platforms remains limited, particularly for the poorest or most marginalised girls
(where interpersonal communication or social mobilization through non-digital
communication channels will be more effective).
• Monitoring. Wherever advocacy, social mobilisation, and interpersonal communication

are included in MHH interventions, it is crucial to measure the impact of these
activities on attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and broader outcomes. This helps ascertain
the impact of this element of the intervention on girls’ lives – and provide future
advocacy efforts with a richer evidence base to work from.
C4D and gender specialists can bring their expertise and experience to MHH
programming, in how to influence social norms through public and targeted
advocacy, social mobilisation, and interpersonal communication. UNICEF cross-
sector programming aimed specifically at the rights of adolescent girls such as
ending FGM/C, child marriage and GBV, as well as other adolescent girls’ strategies
can include MHH in the advocacy and C4D elements of their planning and
programmes.
Coordinated advocacy will increase its impact. In the health and education sectors,
for example, it is possible to incorporate messages on ensuring adequate sanitation
facilities for teachers, students, medical professionals, and patients, as well as
promoting links between MHH and national curricula, HPV vaccination campaigns,
or iron and folic acid supplementation programmes.
Successful advocacy with women parliamentarians for VAT removal

on sanitary pads in Tanzania
Through the Ministry of Finance and Planning, the Government of Tanzania undertook a
major step in supporting MHH through the exemption of Value Added Tax (VAT) on all sanitary
pads starting July 2018. The VAT exemption was the result of coordinated advocacy and
multiple capacity development efforts since 2010 by WASH partners including UN Agencies,
government officials, parliamentarians and CSOs.
A key factor in the success of this advocacy for VAT removal was a national MHH coalition
that brings together key government ministries, UN agencies, CSOs, international NGOs
and the private sector. The national MHH coalition organized the first high level advocacy
event during the 2018 Menstrual Hygiene Day bringing together more than 50 Members of
Parliament (MPs) and high-level government officials with development partners to deliberate
on tax exemption for sanitary pads. The result was a statement pledging support to MHH by
the government and MPs.
At the same time, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, UNICEF and other
partners convened a national training-of-trainers workshop on MHH for women MPs who
are members of the Tanzania Women’s Parliamentary Group (TWPG). This training turned
the TWPG into MHH champions. They launched a fundraising and community awareness
campaign on MHH, and were at the forefront of championing MHH issues in parliament,
which in turn enabled the passing of the VAT exemption bill on sanitary pads.
Source: UNICEF Tanzania.
47
Coordinated advocacy in Indonesia for Menstrual Hygiene Day

Menstrual Hygiene Day, which falls on 28 May every year, is an invaluable public
advocacy opportunity and can be used to launch national policies or partnerships. In
Indonesia, UNICEF used its ‘Roadmap of MH Day 2017’ to build an advocacy coalition of
organisations and government to promote MHH. Their roadmap, pictured below, shows
the coordinated efforts of UNICEF and partners that led them to a campaign that garnered
21.5 million views.
To deliver this success, UNICEF teamed up with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry
of Health, NGOs, public figures and celebrities, and national students’ associations.
Together, they engaged the public through social and traditional media, including U-Report
and Facebook Live. During the campaign, they launched MHH guidelines for teachers and
parents and the promoted their MHH comic books for girls and boys to learn about MHH.
After a successful trial of the comics and teachers guide, UNICEF is now working with the
Ministry of Education to incorporate it into the school curriculum.
The broad lesson is that Menstrual Hygiene Day can be used as a platform to start a
process of engagement with partners around advocacy goals. Successful advocacy and
communication campaigns can support social mobilisation and reinforce behavioural
change elements of UNICEF programmes. There are many other o pportunities that
national and international days can present; for example, linking national campaign days
to national systems strengthening work, or simply using such designated days to build
alliances and partnerships will all provide results for girl and women beyond a solely
‘awareness raising’ objective.
ROADMAP OF MH DAY 2017
MHM Learning
Exchange Workshop:
Hosted by MoH and Plan
International Indonesia
the discussion MHM Press Campaign:
highlighted issues such Was hosted by MoH, sharing
as schools’ sanitation, their policy effort through
MHM messages in School Health Program (UKS)
Online Campaign:
school health program, and Student Health Rapport
DURING THE MH DAY WEEK:
and MHM policy an d and from the printed media
#MenstruasiBukanTabu
education curriculum. side, MHM messages was
REACHING 490 POSTS BY 275 USERS
covered in Jawa Pos, a nation
AND 2,100,000 PEOPLE WITH 21,5
wide newspaper network.
MILLION OF IMPRESSIONS
MHM Communication
Strategy Workshop:
The joint campaign of MH
Day 2017 was agreed and 1838 LIKES ALMOST MHM Guideline for Teachers
discussed on this 650 SHARES and Parents:
workshop by MoEC with U-REPORT INDONESIA REACHED BY MHM Will be distributed to 34
UNICEF Indonesia. ASKED ADOLESCENTS GIRLS SOCIAL MEDIA provinces in Indonesia along
AND BOYS ABOUT SCHOOL CAMPAIGN THROUGH with the 34,000 MHM comic
ATTENDANCE AND BULLYING book for elementary students,
RELATED TO MENSTRUATION newspaper network.
CELEBRITY, MODEL, SINGER, PRESEN-

TER, ATHLETE AND OTHER PUBLIC
FIGURES SUPPORTED MHM CAMPAIGN
Offline Campaign: A LIVE STREAMING MHM HUMAN

Students, teachers, VIDEO INTERVIEW INTEREST STORY IS
parents, health practitio- MHM #ASKUREPORT HIGHLIGHTING THE
ners and community RECEIVED MORE POSITIVE IMPACT OF
member actively THAN 300 CONVEYING MHM
participated in MHM QUESTIONS, 1,700 MESSAGES THROUGH A
More other public gathering
celebration and promotion INSTAGRAM COMIC BOOKLET FOR
which was initiated separately
AND 14,254 BOTH GIRLS AND BOYS.
from the official campaign
with the same key messages
MH DAY 2017 GAINED MORE PUBLIC SUPPORT INCLUDING
FEMALE STUDENT ASSOCIATION OF NAHDLAHTUL ULAMA, ONE
OF THE BIGGEST MUSLIM ORGANIZATION IN THE COUNTRY
Source: UNICEF Indonesia (2017) Menstrual Hygiene Day Report 2017. Jakarta. UNICEF.
48
Resources for social support

The toolkit provides a broadly accepted definition of advocacy and

underscores UNICEF’s position and experience in advocacy work.
The heart of the toolkit provides detailed steps, guidance and tools
Advocacy toolkit: A guide to influencing for developing and implementing an advocacy strategy.
decisions that improve children’s lives
The toolkit also outlines 8 foundational areas that can help
UNICEF (2010) strengthen a team’s capacity for advocacy, and covers several
Advocacy Toolkit crosscutting aspects of advocacy, including monitoring and
Monitoring and evaluating advocacy evaluating advocacy, managing knowledge in advocacy,
managing risks in advocacy, building relationships and securing
partnerships for advocacy, and working with children and young
people in advocacy.
Menstrual Hygiene Day is a global advocacy platform that brings

together the voices and actions of non-profit organisations,
Menstrual Hygiene Day
government agencies, individuals, the private sector and the
media to promote good MHH for all women and girls. The
WASH United
website provides campaign materials each year and a space to
register your event.
Raising Even More Clean Hands: Following the 2010 Call to Action on WASH in schools titled
Advancing Health, Learning and ‘Raising Clean Hands’, more than 60 organisations have joined
Equity Through WASH in Schools together to renew their commitments and create a more
cohesive group to support and advocate for WASH in schools,
WASH in Schools Network (2012) with this new call to action.
Working with UNICEF and the WASH in Schools Network, Faith

in Water has produced a new publication, Putting Clean Hands
Putting Clean Hands Together Together, on how to work more effectively with faith communities
on water, sanitation and hygiene issues. The document makes
Faith in Water and the WASH in Schools the case for giving greater priority to working with faith schools. It
Network (2015) offers tips to both secular groups and faith groups on how to work
more effectively with each other and looks at the role of water
and cleanliness in five major faiths: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam,
Hinduism and Sikhism.
49
Pillar 2: Knowledge and skills

Formative research from around the world shows that girls often lack accurate knowledge
about menstruation and menstrual health and hygiene. Girls’ influencers – such as parents,
teachers, and health workers – may also have misinformation, which in turn prevents girls
from obtaining knowledge and developing skills to keep themselves healthy. To address
this barrier, UNICEF may work with ministries responsible for education and health to
integrate MHH education packages into existing puberty or health curricula, or other
systems for delivering this information to girls and boys.
Per the International Technical Guidelines on Sexuality Education13, programmes focused

on building knowledge and skills for MHH should be:
• Scientifically accurate, based on facts about menstruation and evidence related to

menstrual health and related topics.
• Age - and - developmentally - appropriate, responding to the changing needs and

capabilities of the child and the young person as they grow. Such an approach provides
relevant topics when it is most timely (e.g., providing different areas of focus before
and after menarche) and accommodates developmental diversity.
• Curriculum-based, included within a written curriculum that guides the support of

student learning, that can be delivered in formal or non-formal education programmes.
• The primary audience for knowledge and skills building activities are girls and
women. They must have the necessary set of facts and resources to support a
safe and dignified menstruation, advocate for their rights, as well as gaining wider
knowledge on related topics such as puberty and sexual and reproductive health.
Again, formative research and qualitative surveys on knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and
practices will help to identify the priority information gaps to target.
The secondary audience will depend on the local context and is likely to include:
• Peers, including pre-adolescent and adolescent boys, so they understand the link
between menstruation and changes to their own bodies during puberty and their
own development, and to give them the tools to support MHH, puberty health and
reproductive health more broadly;
• Parents and caregivers, who are direct influencers of girls and determinants of their
experiences;
• Community and religious leaders, to work towards ending stigma and myths about
menstruation, and support community action across the four pillars;
• Public servants, to build professional ability within governments to respond

appropriately to MHH needs of their population, and support system-wide, at scale
sectoral interventions;
• Civil society organisations implementing MHH programmes, to ensure staff are

adequately skilled to lead programming, and to build an evidence and monitoring
system for MHH programming; and
• Research institutions, to build empirical knowledge about MHH, and enable the
sharing of good practice in MHH programming.
13UNESCO (2018) International technical guidance on sexuality education: An evidence-informed approach (revised edition). UNESCO, Paris.
Available online at https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000260770_eng
50
In many places, resources may already exist for teaching and learning about MHH for girls,
and sometimes boys. The first step is an assessment to understand the MHH-related
information already included in national curriculum, and identify gaps or opportunities for
strengthening. Usually, MHH is included in science or biology classes, or curricular or
extra-curricular health or life skills programmes. There is often an opportunity to strengthen
the way that such programmes are delivered, either by building skills and confidence of
teachers to teach the curriculum, or by providing supplemental materials or modes of
engagement. Existing programmes that support out of school girls can be important in
some contexts to reach the poorest or most marginalised girls. Girls’ clubs in schools can
be an extra-curricular opportunity to build knowledge of MHH as part of the clubs’ aims to
develop of life skills. Girls’ clubs can also serve as a referral pathway to health services,
counselling services and other support, where needed.
Once the target audiences for building knowledge and skills have been identified, there are
a range of activities that might be considered as part of the intervention.
Development of teaching and learning materials, working with health and education
sectors, is often a key area of work for UNICEF. Where materials do not already exist,
UNICEF can work with partners to develop supplementary resources for MHH. Past
examples have included puberty or MHH books or comics for girls and boys, that can
be used as part of the curriculum, as a self-guided resource, or through extracurricular
programmes. The materials developed often include biological facts and address prevalent
harmful beliefs and behaviours such as bullying and stigma. In some contexts, self-guided
resources are delivered through apps or online platforms. Some country offices have used
human-centred design as a process to co-design learning materials with girls and boys. The
UNICEF Supply Division maintains long-term arrangements, or LTAs, with institutions that
can facilitate human-centred design.
Another priority is developing capacity and institutional support within the health and
education systems to deliver MHH information to girls and boys. In many places,
teachers or health workers may lack accurate information about menstruation and MHH
themselves, or may perceive resistance to engaging with children around topics related to
puberty. Furthermore, because teachers and health workers are influenced by the culture
in which they live, and therefore may perpetuate non-factual beliefs about menstruation.
UNICEF can support supplemental teacher and health worker trainings to be integrated
into national professional training programmes. This may also include the integration
of MHH information and care (such as how to manage complications like infections or
menstrual pain) into Adolescent Friendly Health Services.
Lastly, ensuring a link to caregivers and community leaders as in pillar 1 above (section 3.4)
is critical. In formative studies around the world, parents and other caregivers are cited as
among the highest influencers and sources of information and support for girls regarding
their period. In many contexts, community leaders – be they administrative, traditional,
or religious – have influence over the social restrictions for menstruating girls. Similar to
teachers or health workers, parents and community leaders may lack basic information
about menstruation, or the confidence to initiate conversations with girls at menarche,
or may promote harmful beliefs or practices. Within UNICEF, C4D, child protection, and
gender colleagues can bring valuable expertise to this programme area. In some contexts,
social media and digital platforms may be available and appropriate and can also be a very
effective option for sharing information and increasing knowledge and skills.
51
UNICEF country offices have many good practice examples to share under the ‘knowledge
and skills’ pillar; some examples of which are below:
• Teaching and learning materials created in Bolivia were designed through a highly
participatory process to engage children and their influencers in an integrated
manner. The materials provide a soft entry point for discussion of wide-ranging topics
on puberty, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. The
programme was delivered through municipal governments and reached approximately
10,000 boys and girls in 100 schools by early 2017, with growing interest from other
municipalities to replicate the intervention in their own regions, using their own
financing. UNICEF is now supporting the integration of the materials into regional
curricula.
• UNICEF Indonesia’s partnership with government used innovative communication

techniques to develop an MHH comic, as well as a teachers’ guide aimed at teaching
both girls and boys, developed through a human-centred design process and now
being considered for integration into the national school health programme. A similar
book was developed with the Indonesian Council of Islamic Scholars to respond to
specific questions and issues that arose in this majority Muslim country.
• UNICEF Afghanistan supported the development of guidelines for teachers on

MHH, to promote hygiene behaviour change at school and community level. It was
accompanied by a graphic novel format storybook for adolescents, and an audiobook
on MHH for low literacy girls and women. The guidelines incorporated a speech from
a high-level Islamic scholar and a note for men, to encourage to reduce the stigma
surrounding menstruation.
• Ghana Education Service, UNICEF and other partners developed the ‘Be Amazing!
Period’ campaign and materials, based on formative research. The campaign educates
the public and specifically parents, teachers, boys, girls and community leaders on
how to provide support to girls in managing their menstruation. Specific materials have
been developed for girls and boys to learn in schools.
• UNICEF Kyrgyzstan carried out formative research on MHH to develop learning

materials about MHH and puberty, which break the silence and taboos around
menstruation and provide age-appropriate information. In 2018, these existing MHH
materials were made accessible for girls with disabilities. UNICEF worked through
working with schools for students with disabilities to design specific learning materials
in Braille, audio formats and videos with audio description and sign language.
• UNICEF China supported the development of an innovative smartphone application

on life-skills, using ‘WeChat’, one of China’s largest social media applications. The app
includes information on menstruation and sexual and reproductive health issues.
• UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office is developing a ‘period tracker’
app that includes factual information on menstruation to dispel myths, as well as on
hygiene, diet and sexual and reproductive health. Information is customised to local
context; information is provided in local languages, and the app links to local services
and websites.
52
Resources for knowledge and skills


the world
hygiene.
Module 5 Working with schools on Module 5 provides information relevant to working with schools
menstrual hygiene on MHM, while the training guide provides training curriculum and
Training Guide resources.
This online resource includes examples of interventions, including

WASH in Schools for Girls
teaching and learning materials, from 14 countries included in the
Compendium
WASH in Schools for Girls project, funded by the Government
of Canada and implemented in partnership between UNICEF,
UNICEF (2018)
governments and civil society around the world.
The Virtual Conference for MHM in Schools is an annual event,

Virtual Conference on MHM in
first held in 2012, that brings together over 1,000 practitioners and
Schools
researchers from around the world to review the latest research
and programme examples on MHM in schools. Proceedings of the
Columbia University and UNICEF
conference are available online.
International technical guidance on The International technical guidance on sexuality education

sexuality education: An evidence- was developed to assist education, health and other relevant
informed approach (revised edition) authorities in the development and implementation of school-
based and out-of-school comprehensive sexuality education
UNESCO (2018) programmes and materials.
This book brought out by Saksham, Noida Deaf Society and WSSCC
As we grow up: a digital book on
is in 5 different formats: 1) Universal book: this is a synchronized
menstrual hygiene management
version of a video in Indian Sign Language (ISL) along with text
and audio. 2) Video in Indian sign language with text and voice over
As We Grow Up: A Tactile Book on
Menstrual Hygiene Management (English and Hindi). 3) Epub in audio (MP3) format (in Hindi and
Facilitator’s Manual English). 4) Epub in text-only format to be used with a screen reader,
such as NVDA or JAWS (English and Hindi). 5) Epub in full-text full
WSSCC (2018) audio format.
It is accompanied by a facilitator’s guide.
53
Pillar 3: Facilities and services

Water and sanitation were recognised as human rights by the United Nations General
Assembly on 28 July 2010, and universal basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services are
the aspiration of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Basic water, sanitation and hygiene
services are critical for MHH for girls and women around the world. Yet there is a long
way to go for every girl and woman to access these crucial services – at the beginning of
the SDG era in 2015, 32 per cent of the global population or 2.3 billion people still lacked a
basic sanitation service.
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Drinking Water, Sanitation, and
Hygiene (JMP) provides data used for reporting progress on SDG 6 on WASH and SDG
4 on education. The JMP suggests that in 2016, 335 million girls went to school without
access to water and soap for washing their hands, bodies and clothes. In addition, over
620 million girls and boys worldwide lacked a basic sanitation service at their school14.
The scale of this deprivation calls for accelerated action. Depending on the context, the
activities under this pillar may be delivered in different ways, but core areas of work are
identified below.
Setting standards and developing guidelines for gender-responsive WASH services

UNICEF works with governments around the world to ensure that girls, boys and school
staff have basic WASH services at schools. A key part of this work is supporting national
education systems to set nation-wide standards and guidelines, budget for ongoing service
delivery, and incorporate WinS into education monitoring systems. All of these actions
can include specific attention to MHH. Key partners include the ministry of education, as
well as other ministries, NGOs, civil society groups, donors, partnerships (e.g. Education
Cannot Wait, Global Partnership for Education, UN Girls’ Education Initiative) and other
UN agencies (e.g. UNESCO), and are usually engaged through a national WinS or MHH
working group,
Ensuring disability-inclusive and gender-responsive WASH facilities in schools and

health care facilities, in development and humanitarian contexts
In development contexts, UNICEF often promotes the ‘Three Star Approach’ to WASH
in schools, where communities and schools are engaged together to make incremental
improvements and contribute to recurrent operations towards meeting national standards.
In humanitarian contexts, UNICEF may be directly involved in funding facilities and
services. Both provide opportunities for ensuring that such facilities and services are
gender-responsive, by firstly ensuring meaningful participation of the users in their design.
14UNICEF/WHO (2018) Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools: Global Baseline Report 2018. New York. UNICEF.
54
The Three Star Approach and MHH

Under the Three Star Approach to WASH (TSA), schools are encouraged to take steps
towards national standards for WASH in schools. The TSA aims to make WASH simple,
scalable and sustainable. MHH can be incorporated into the approach, so that schools
are able to improve their facilities, as well as the knowledge and practices of teachers,
staff and students. TSA programmes are student led, require low investment, are
scalable and sustained by teachers, staff, and students at the school.
In the TSA, schools take simple steps to make sure that all students wash their
hands with soap, have access to drinking water, and are provided with clean, gender-
segregated and child-friendly toilets at school every day. Once these ‘one star’
minimum standards are achieved, schools can progress to three stars by expanding
hygiene promotion activities and improving infrastructure, especially for girls –
ultimately meeting national standards for WASH in schools.
The Government of the Philippines, in collaboration with UNICEF and other

development partners, developed a national WinS Three-Star rubric that specifically
included MHM: availability of sanitary pads in schools and a set of gender-segregated
toilets are non-negotiable requirements to meet the one star standard and progress.
The Philippines three-star monitoring system which includes MHM is now included
in the education management information system. This enables SDG reporting on
MHH and incorporates it into national policy and planning. This work was achieved via
the formation of a technical working group on WASH in schools, which has been the
platform for advocacy and technical support to the Department of Education on matters
related to MHH, as well as building evidence through research, and advocacy based
on that evidence. The work has resulted in a national WinS policy, systems building for
MHH, and WinS and curriculum integration.
Source: UNICEF Philippines.
Services and facilities need to be inclusive, to meet the needs of women and girls with
disabilities, as well as transgender and non-binary persons who menstruate, and other
traditionally excluded groups, e.g. ethnic or religious minorities who have specific needs or
preferences. It is also important to ensure accountability of service providers to adolescent
girls and boys, by building regular feedback opportunities from them into monitoring
systems.
In service delivery, the disposal of menstrual hygiene materials is often overlooked, to the
detriment of both girls and the facilities. Where there are not alternative disposal options,
girls and women often dispose of used menstrual materials in toilets. This may stop toilets
from functioning, for example, or clog vacuum hoses during desludging of septic tanks.
Building private, well-managed disposal options that consider local beliefs around disposal
into facility planning and construction helps prevent operational problems in the future.
Taboos around menstruation are strong. Calling facilities ‘menstruation rooms’ or

‘menstruation clubs’, can mean girls are less likely to use them, due to stigma. Ensuring
there are sex-segregated toilets which have adequate MHH facilities included, without
55
labelling the facility as a ‘menstruation’ facility can often be more effective. Using terms
such as ‘girls’, ‘hygiene’ and ‘puberty’ can provide a more comfortable entry point.
UNICEF also has large programmes to strengthen WASH service delivery in communities
and in health facilities. These programmes are planned and delivered with the ministries
responsible for WASH and for health, or in the case of cities and towns, the relevant
municipal authorities. MHH considerations for girls and women should be integrated
into these service delivery programmes, informed by consultations and assessed by
monitoring.
What does an MHH-responsive toilet look like?

The details of MHH-responsive toilet design vary according to local context, however in
general, toilets in schools, health clinics, and public spaces should include:
• Sex-segregated, separate toilet blocks with private entrances, solid walls, and
latches on internal doors;
• A greater number of toilet cubicles for female than males due to their different
toileting needs; for instance in emergencies, SPHERE standards recommend a 3:1
ratio;
• Access to water and soap, preferably inside the toilet with at least one cubicle for
privacy, as well as in bathroom;
• Disposal facilities inside the cubical – for example incinerators or sanitary bins, with
regular disposal plan;
• Good lighting, hooks for belongings, and good ventilation;
• Where possible a mirror to check for stains;
• Accessibility for those with disabilities – e.g. ramps, handrails, long or lever-style door
handles and tap fittings, bars and benches inside cubicles, wider toilet cubicles with
space for circulation (1500mm by 1500 mm) adequate door widths for facilities and
cubicles (at least 900 mm wide); and adapted toilet seats/squatting pads;
• Regular maintenance.
Adequate numbers of safely located toilets

separated (with clear signage) from male
facilities.
Safe and private toilets with inside door latch.
Clear signs instructing girls and women to

dispose of menstrual waste in the trash bin.
A shelf and hook for hygienically storing

belongings during usage.
Night time light source both inside and

outside of the toilets.
Easily accessible water (ideally inside the

cubicle) for girls and women to wash
themselves and menstrual materials.
Trash bins (with lids) to dispose of used

menstrual materials.
Walls, door and roof are made of

non-transparent materials with no gaps or
spaces.
Some units should be accessible to people

with disabilities
Adapted from IRC and Columbia University (2017)
56
Costing and allocating funds for operation and maintenance

Where new school WASH facilities are constructed or existing facilities rehabilitated,
recurrent budget allocation for operation and maintenance will safeguard the infrastructure
investment and girls’ ability to continue managing their menstruation at schools. During
the project planning stage, UNICEF can support a detailed costing of WASH in schools
programmes using the tools described in section 2.5. UNICEF can also support the
government to identify sources of funding and financing for operation and maintenance.
Monitoring access and use

Ideally, MHH should be monitored through national education management information
systems. The WHO/UNICEF JMP has produced Core Questions and Indicators for
Monitoring WASH in Schools (see resources section), which include expanded indicators
on MHH. Only 11 countries included indicators on MHH in their national education
management information systems as of 2018, however UNICEF stands ready to support
the integration of MHH into these systems to increase this number.
GOOD PRACTICES FROM THE FIELD

In Cambodia, UNICEF partnered with WaterAid to assess the accessibility, safety and
MHH responsiveness across school WASH facilities. The findings showed that school
WASH facilities were mostly inaccessible, that girls felt unsafe in using toilets due
to a lack of privacy and security, that there was limited access to sanitary materials,
and that availability of water in facilities was poor – as well as finding that girls and
teachers had limited knowledge about MHH. The assessment resulted in UNICEF
developing new toilet designs and standards. These were trialled, and updated
through participatory feedback evaluations from girls, boys and teachers.
The ministry of education in Zambia integrated WASH and MHH into its relevant
strategic policies and plans as part of wider efforts to keep girls in school. UNICEF
worked with the Government to develop specific MHM National Guidelines and an
accompanying Toolkit. Zambia’s national latrine design for rural schools now provides
for a private space within the girls’ washrooms for MHM, including a water point.
UNICEF has joined advocacy efforts to help ensure budgets are in place to deliver
these MHH-responsive designs nationally. Zambia also now includes indicators on
MHM in its national education management information system, meaning MHH data
for Zambia now feeds into JMP reports.
57
Resources for facilities and services

This online resource includes examples of interventions, including

WASH in Schools for Girls teaching and learning materials, from 14 countries included in
Compendium the WASH in Schools for Girls project on MHM, funded by
the Government of Canada and implemented in partnership
UNICEF (2018) between UNICEF, governments and civil society organisations
around the world.

for improving menstrual hygiene around This resource brings together accurate, straightforward, non-
the world judgmental knowledge and practice on menstrual hygiene
programming from around the world to encourage the
SHARE & WaterAid (2012) development of comprehensive and context-specific approaches to
menstrual hygiene.
Modules and Toolkits 4, 5, and 6
Beyond the household toilet, public and community toilets often

Female-friendly public and do not exist, and where they do they often fail to meet the needs
community toilets: A guide for of women and girls. This guide is designed primarily for use by
planners and decision makers local authorities in towns and cities who are responsible for public
and community toilets. It is also useful for national governments,
WaterAid, WSUP and UNICEF (2018) public and private service providers, NGOs, donors and civil society
organisations who play a role in delivering these services.
The Three Star Approach for WASH in This guide describes the Three Star Approach to WASH in Schools,
Schools illustrating incremental steps towards national WASH in schools
standards that communities and schools can take, including on
UNICEF and GIZ (2013) MHH.
This document presents recommended Indicators to support

Core Questions and Indicators for harmonised monitoring of WinS, as part of the SDGs. Questions
Monitoring WASH in Schools help standardise definitions of ‘basic’ WASH services and service
ladders, to enable easier monitoring pf progress. They are
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring intended for use in national or sub-national facility surveys and
Programme (2016) census questionnaires, and include expanded questions for
MHM in schools.
This document presents recommended core indicators to

Core Questions and Indicators for support harmonized monitoring of WASH in HCF in support of
Monitoring WASH in Health Care the 2030 Agenda. The indicators include definitions for “basic”
Facilities water, sanitation, hygiene, health care waste management and
environmental cleaning. Each indicator is supported with a set of
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring recommended questions for use in data collection, which allow
Programme (2018) classification of facilities in relation to “service ladders” that can be
used to monitor progress.
58
Pillar 4: Menstrual materials and supplies

Menstrual materials are used to catch menstrual blood. Women and girls in often lack
regular access to safe menstrual materials, and this lack of access is due to a series of
systematic barriers that prevent them from having control of resources at the household
and community levels, and from having a voice in the allocation of state resources.
Most women and girls in low- and middle-income countries use cloth to absorb menstrual
flow. Cloth is frequently washed and reused, but sometimes disposed of as waste. These
cloths are usually not purchased specifically for menstrual hygiene purposes, but rather cut
from old pieces of clothing or other materials in the household.
Other menstrual material options are mostly supplied through the market. Disposable
pads are the most common of these products, with great variation in quality and price.
Commercially-produced reusable pads are also increasingly available, again at a range of
qualities. Other menstrual materials include disposable tampons and menstrual cups, both
of which are less commonly available for purchase in low- and middle-income countries.
Other, less common materials usually confined to high-income countries include absorbent
underwear and sponges.
Table 2: Overview of menstrual materials

MENSTRUAL REUSABLE PAD DISPOSABLE MENSTRUAL TAMPON
CLOTH PAD CUP
Reusable, Reusable, can Convenient, Reusable, Convenient,

affordable, be home-made widely available, available in some available in some
already used in or produced preferred by countries. countries.
many contexts. locally, where many women
good quality, and girls, Relies on privacy, Relies on
Relies on privacy, comfortable. comfortable. water and soap disposal systems
clean water and to clean, and and hindered by
soap, and time to Relies on privacy, Relies on hindered by cultural taboos
wash and dry. water soap and disposal systems cultural taboos surrounding
time to wash and and access to on inserting and insertion and
dry. markets. virginity. virginity.
UNICEF’s objective is broadly to ensure that girls and women have access to a range of
menstrual materials and supporting supplies that allow them to live their lives normally.
In some cases, such as humanitarian response, UNICEF may be involved in procuring
menstrual materials and providing them to affected populations. In other cases, UNICEF
may play a market facilitation role to expand access to the type, quality, or affordability
of products available for distribution (such as through a government-financed education
programme) or purchase.
Whenever UNICEF is involved in facilitating access to menstrual materials, the foundation

must be assessment of the preferences of girls and women. This begins, as in all
aspects of MHH programming, with consultation and participation. Girls and women
have individual preferences for menstrual materials so generalisation is difficult. Though
girls’ and women’s preferences may be similar within a geographic area or income level,
preference is personal.
59
In development programmes, UNICEF may be best placed to engage with government

and the local private sector to ensure girls and women have access to a range of
affordable and appropriate options rather than promoting any one option. Providing a
range of products promotes freedom of choice and dignity, enabling girls and women to
decide based on their own preferences and individual needs. UNICEF can also support
government to set regulations for currently unregulated menstrual materials, model the
impact of policy proposals such as free sanitary pads in schools, or analyse the taxation of
menstrual materials.
In humanitarian response, the provision of menstrual materials should be informed

by consultations with girls and women on their current practices and preferences,
remembering that during an emergency – particularly for girls and women who have
been displaced – their practices and preferences may have changed from prior to the
emergency. Consultations can also inform preparation for an emergency; these are
encouraged as part of country office preparedness strategies, though they will need to be
revisited depending on the specifics of the actual emergency.
In addition to the materials themselves, girls and women also need supporting supplies
to manage their menses safely and with dignity. These include undergarments to hold
materials to the body; access to water, soap, and laundry facilities; disposal options; and
drying supplies such as clothes lines. Supplies should be accessible through similar market
and distribution channels as materials.
It is also important to consider pain relief for adolescent girls and women experiencing
abdominal cramping associated with menstruation, to help them stay healthy and
comfortable, and to increase their participation in daily life.
UNICEF has developed separate guidance on menstrual materials that should be read for
details on options and considerations for procurement. These materials can range from
good-quality disposable pads and tampons, to menstrual cups, to clean reusable pads or
locally-produced cloth.
In both development and humanitarian programmes, UNICEF country offices frequently

include one or more of the following activities on materials in their interventions:
• Assessment of use and preference. Assessments of preference for and

current use of menstrual materials is highly variable and data are scarce. An
assessment can be included as part of programme design, together with
interested partners from MHH working groups. Information on preferences can
be shared in open forums, with the private sector invited to learn and respond
to the expressed preferences.
• Assessment of product availability. In some contexts, especially

humanitarian response, UNICEF may carry out a market assessment to
determine the availability, cost, and specifications of available menstrual
materials. Key partners might be other development agencies, the private
sector, business associations or chambers of commerce, and civil society
organisations.
• Development of national standards for menstrual materials. In many low-

and middle-income countries, standards for menstrual materials are missing or
inadequate. Together with national working or other expert groups, UNICEF has
played a role in supporting the development of national standards for materials
like disposable or reusable pads, or menstrual cups.
60
• Supporting enterprises and entrepreneurs to respond to girls’ needs and

preferences. Within market systems, different actors play specific roles in
expanding access. Expanding the supply of menstrual materials in a UNICEF
programme area may require working with local enterprises – like small shops,
pharmacies, or sales agents – to encourage them to add menstrual materials
to their product offering. Depending on the context, there may be opportunities
to support local production of materials in a way that keeps money in the
community. Market participation can bring benefits to women and girls where
UNICEF supports women-led organisations and businesses to access the
market.
• Supplying materials, particularly in schools, health care facilities, and

humanitarian response. An increasing number of governments are providing
funding for supply of menstrual materials in schools, or other contexts like
health care facilities. In these cases, UNICEF can play an advisory role using
information on preferences, and can help to ensure that standards are applied
to the selection of materials. In humanitarian response, UNICEF generally
provides distribution of materials or vouchers.
• Evaluating products and interventions. UNICEF’s supply division plays

a global role in evaluating new products as they become available, and
highlighting gaps in product development. UNICEF staff can contact their
supply officers for more information.
Expanding the market for menstrual materials in Ethiopia

UNICEF can participate in shaping sustainable markets for menstrual products,
supporting local, environmentally friendly, and culturally appropriate materials,
in response to the needs of girls and women. Building local markets can enable
community empowerment, skills building, and knowledge sharing. In Ethiopia,
UNICEF is working with the government to build markets for menstrual products
so that girls and women can choose how they manage their periods. UNICEF co-
chairs the MHH working group in Ethiopia, which developed national guidelines for
health workers in local languages, to teach girls and women about menstruation
and related health issues. The working group is also developing national standards
for both disposable and non-disposable products, which will help create the policy
environment in which businesses and government can develop and distribute
menstrual products on a national scale. UNICEF is also working with local women
to develop business plans for them that will encourage larger scale production and
distribution of reusable pads. Along with their community engagement and girls’
empowerment programmes, these national policy and commercial initiatives will
result in accessible and affordable options for Ethiopian women and girls in managing
their periods.
Source: UNICEF Ethiopia.
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Resources for menstrual materials

AUTHOR, TITLE AND LINK Relevance
This resource brings together accurate, straightforward, non-

judgmental knowledge and practice on menstrual hygiene
programming from around the world to encourage the
the world
development of comprehensive and context-specific approaches
to menstrual hygiene.
Modules and Toolkits 3 Menstrual
Module and toolkit 3 provide information on menstrual materials,
hygiene – sanitary protection
supplies, and disposal.
The purpose of this guide is to familiarise UNICEF staff members

with the key characteristics and requirements for the most
common menstrual hygiene materials: menstrual cloths, reusable
Guide to menstrual hygiene materials pads, disposable pads, menstrual cups and tampons. For each
MHM material, the environmental, health, and economic aspects
UNICEF (2019) are highlighted in individual tables along with considerations of
material availability, user experience, and standards and regulations
– as well as technical specifications. The guide includes a summary
of key attributes of each material.
62
Section III: Core package of interventions
63
© UNICEF/UNI196181/Romana
Section 4:
MHH for girls and women in
vulnerable situations
64
Some menstruators face greater barriers or have specific vulnerabilities that need
consideration in programme design and delivery. This section is not exhaustive and does
not encompass the range of people who may be in vulnerable situations; rather, it provides
an overview of strategies to reach three specific populations.
4.1 Reaching girls and women with disabilities

More than 1 billion people worldwide are estimated to have a disability. This includes up to
10 per cent of children15. Children in LMICs are more likely to have disabilities than children
in higher-income countries16. In a review of 15 LMICs, children with disabilities were 30 per
cent less likely than their peers without disabilities to be in primary and secondary school;
the same study found that only slightly more than 50 per cent of children with disabilities
were attending school17.
Inaccessible WASH facilities in communities, schools, health care facilities and public
places add to the long list of barriers that prevent girls and women with disabilities from
participating fully in social and economic life. Lack of accessible facilities can be another
barrier to girls’ with disabilities school attendance. MHH education and support is critical
in both in- and out-of-school programming to reach girls with disabilities. It is often
assumed that girls with disabilities do not menstruate, so education is needed to dispel
menstruation and disability myths.
Menstruating girls and women with different disabilities may have different needs. Those
with mobility limitations with their upper body and arms may have difficulties placing
their sanitary protection materials in the correct position, and washing themselves, their
clothes, and the material. Those with vision impairments (blind or low vision) may face
challenges knowing if they have fully cleaned themselves, and those with intellectual and
developmental impairments may need tailored support to learn about MHH.
Partnering with women and girls with disabilities and Organisations of Persons with
Disabilities (DPOs) throughout the program cycle of MHH programming will help ensure
those programmes are responsive to the needs of women and girls with disabilities.
© UNICEF/UN0251365/Herwig
15UNICEF (2007) Promoting the rights of children with disabilities. Florence, Italy: Innocenti Research Centre.
16 World Health Organization and World Bank (2011) World Report on Disability. Geneva: WHO.
17Mizunoya, Mitra and Yamasaki (2016). Towards Inclusive Education: The impact of disability on school attendance in developing countries.
UNICEF. Available online at https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/IWP3%20-%20Towards%20Inclusive%20Education.pdf
65
Key considerations for reaching girls with disabilities:
Social support Knowledge and skills facilities and services materials
• Inclusive and special • Knowledge materials • Girls and women with • Girls and women with
schools are included are available in at disabilities participate disabilities participate
in MHH interventions. least two different in the design of in choosing
• Outreach activities formats (e.g., audio/ WASH facilities and appropriate materials.
accompany school- Braille/sign language/ services. • Materials and
based interventions simplified words and • Design or adapt supplies, such as
to reach out of school pictures). WASH facilities to be soap, are placed at
girls. • Data is disaggregated disability accessible a height that can be
• Reach out to DPOs by sex, age, and and meet national reached by women
and associations of disability. or international and girls using
parents of children • Girls and women accessibility wheelchairs.
with disabilities. with disabilities are standards. • Girls and women
included in monitoring • Girls and women with disabilities are
and feedback with different types involved in monitoring
processes. of disabilities are and evaluating the
involved in facility use of materials and
audits for safety and supplies.
suitability.
Enabling environment
• Ensure evidence generation and learning around MHH includes girls and women with disabilities.
• Include DPOs and agencies working with girls and women with disabilities in MHH working groups.
• Build capacity of health, education, and WASH professionals to communicate with girls and women with
disabilities on MHH by including disability modules in WASH in schools and MHH trainings.
• WASH in schools sector standards and guidelines include provisions for children with disabilities.
• Agencies allocate resources for disability-inclusive MHH.
18Where national standards are not accessible, international standards can be used: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (2011)
Building Construction: Accessibility and usability of the built environment. International Standard ISO 21542.
66
Addressing MHM for children with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan

In 2018, UNICEF and Plus Public Foundation partnered to produce education materials
on menstrual hygiene, school safety and child rights in alternative formats for children
with visual and hearing disabilities. This project represented an important first step
towards more inclusive programming.
The project aimed to provide children with visual and hearing disabilities with access to
critical information on child rights, girls hygiene and safety. Three MHM publications in
Kyrgyz and Russian languages (‘Growing up and Developing’, and ‘Akylai is Growing Up’
which are puberty books for girls, and ‘Talking to Daughter’, a guide for parents) were
reproduced in braille and audio formats. The Kyrgyz WASH in Schools Guidebook and a
publication on safe behaviour for schoolchildren were reproduced in video format with
subtitles and sign language interpretation.
Children and parents can access the materials through two specialised schools,
located in Bishkek and Osh cities and through the Association of the Blind and Deaf of
the Kyrgyz Republic. The materials will also be available for many more children with
disabilities, as the audio and video materials will be made available online through the
wins4girls.org website.
Source: UNICEF Kyrgyzstan.
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© UNICEF/UN041232/Vockel
4.2 Responding to humanitarian crises

As of 2017, over 26 million menstruating girls and women were displaced due to conflict
and disasters, while many millions more were affected without being displaced19.
Emergency-affected and displaced women and girls face additional challenges to
menstrual health and hygiene:
• They may lose their usual coping strategies for managing menstruation, such as
access to their usual menstruation materials or products and a place to wash, dry or
dispose of them. When displaced, they may have had to leave behind their clothes or
possessions, such as sanitary cloths, soap, and underwear.
• They may have to live in close proximity to men and boys (both their relatives and
strangers) reducing privacy.
• They may not control the family finances and therefore not have access to money for
sanitary products, and because menstruation is a taboo subject it may not be easy to
discuss the issue with men.
• In a natural disaster, such as cyclone or flooding, a girl or woman may be injured

or acquire a disability and not be able to manage menstrual hygiene in the way she
usually does.
• Assessment missions and first response teams (particularly if military) are often
mostly male, making it difficult for girls and women to share concerns about
menstruation.
• They may not receive distributions of non-food items (NFIs) directly but rather through
a male intermediary, which may prevent them from accessing sanitary pads or cloth
intended for MHM.
MHH is important during emergency response for reasons of health, protection, dignity,
education, and in order to enable girls and women to access life-saving services. MHH’s
enabling role for these areas is outlined in the ‘SPHERE Standards’, as well as in UNICEF’s
‘Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action, and can be summarised as:
• Health: MHM helps meet girls’ and women’s health and hygiene needs and prevents
infection. The lack of basic knowledge about puberty and menstruation may contribute
to early and unwanted pregnancy; the stress and shame associated with menstruation
can negatively affect mental health; and unhygienic practices may make girls
susceptible to reproductive tract infections.
• Protection: Dangers exist for adolescent girls and women not provided with adequate
safe facilities due to risks of sexual and gender-based violence.
• Access to lifesaving services and dignity: Girls and women may have to queue for
long periods for lifesaving food, water or other provisions for essential needs and may
not be able to do this if they do not have appropriate sanitary protection materials.
Girls and women must feel empowered to play their part in surviving a humanitarian
crisis, as well as other daily activities; they should not be forced to hide away or have
their movements limited due to menstruation.
19Columbia University and IRC (2017) MHM in Emergencies Toolkit. Available at https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/research/gate/
menstrual-hygiene-management-emergencies
68
• Education: The extra challenges of a humanitarian crisis can mean menstruation

affects girls’ school attendance even more than usual, as temporary learning centres
may not be widely available and when they are, may lack any WASH facilities at all.
MHH is also an important element to consider as part of emergency preparedness,

both for UNICEF itself and for the sectors or clusters that it supports. For example,
pre-emergency information on girls’ and women’s preferences for the design of WASH
facilities and menstrual materials, practices and beliefs around menstrual waste disposal,
or usual hygiene practices during menstruation can direct the prepositioning of supplies
and materials as part of emergency preparedness. Consultation, training, and coordination
carried out prior to the onset of an emergency leads to a more effective response, and one
more likely to uphold the rights of every girl and woman.
The MHM in Emergencies Toolkit produced by Columbia University and IRC in 2017 aims
to provide streamlined guidance to support organisations and agencies seeking to rapidly
integrate MHH into existing programming across sectors and phases. The toolkit provides
tools for the entire humanitarian programme cycle including staff training materials,
sectoral action points and checklists, and monitoring and evaluation tools. A consolidated
version of the toolkit is summarised below. For further details, please refer directly to the
toolkit.

UNICEF, as a cluster lead or co-lead agency for multiple sectors, can help to integrate
support for MHH in multiple areas during emergencies. UNICEF can also facilitate
inter-sector collaboration to ensure that girls and women access support from multiple
providers, and that this support is mutually reinforcing. The contribution of different sectors
to MHH in emergencies is summarised in Table 3.
69
© UNICEF/UNI89190/Ramoneda
Table 3: Sectoral contribution to MHH in emergencies

Sector Contribution to MHH in emergencies
• Ensure that education, health, protection and WASH cluster/sector standards and guidelines
include MHH;
• Provide female-friendly toilet design;
• Provide appropriate menstrual materials (pads, cloths, underwear) and supportive supplies
(e.g. soap, bucket, a torch, paracetamol) for storage, washing, drying and pain relief, using
existing information on girls’ and women’s preferences;
• Collaborate with non-food item (NFI) distribution, education, and protection actors to
provide demonstrations on how to wash and dispose menstrual materials, and provide
menstrual hygiene education;
WASH •
•
Where or vouchers replace NFIs, ensure girls and women can access menstrual hygiene materials;
Visit institutional facilities (health, school or protection centre toilets or washrooms)
regularly for maintenance or adjustment;
• Provide basic menstrual hygiene and health education that is age- and context-appropriate
in learning centres, adolescent spaces, women-friendly spaces, and health centres, and
include menstrual health in community- or camp-level hygiene promotion sessions;
• Provision and maintenance of menstrual waste management;
• Work with protection or education actors to gather feedback from women and girls about
the facilities; and
• Share learning from monitoring data collected with relevant sectoral actors.
• Provide female-friendly WASH facilities at schools, learning centres, and other places of
education, equipped with soap, water and disposal options;
• Provide basic menstrual hygiene and health education that is age- and context-appropriate in
Education •
learning centres;
Train education staff to support girls before during and after menstruation, and ensure girls have
knowledge of MHH; and
• Ensure adequate emergency stocks of MHH materials, including underwear at education facilities.
• Ensure private, safe and female-friendly WASH facilities in relevant facilities which have water,
soap and disposal options;
• Provide basic menstrual hygiene and health education that is age- and context-appropriate in
protection •
adolescent spaces and women-friendly spaces;
Offer safe and private venues for the provision of basic education on MHH, including menstrual
hygiene and menstrual health; and
• Ensure adequate emergency stocks of MHH materials, including underwear at protection facilities.
• Provide female-friendly WASH facilities which have water, soap and disposal options in
outpatient and inpatient settings;
• Incorporate menstruation into routine health education activities;
• Provide MHM materials and supplies demonstrations to patients;
Health •
•
Collaborate with education actors in providing basic menstrual health education to girls in schools;
Collaborate with protection actors in providing basic menstrual health education in women
centres; child-friendly spaces or youth centres; and
• Collaborate with non-food item and WASH actors in providing menstrual health education
during MHH distributions.
• Consult girls and women to ensure that appropriate menstrual materials are selected;
• Be sensitive when planning MHH distributions including ensuring there are private, safe
locations, led by female staff;
NFI • Provide demonstrations on the use of MHH materials, as many girls and woman may not be
familiar with the materials provided; and
• Solicit feedback directly from girls and women to ensure that the materials and supplies are
appropriate and being utilised.
Source: Adapted from IRC and Columbia University (2017) MHM in Emergencies Toolkit
70
4.3 Transgender and non-binary persons

Some people may not identify with the gender binary of ‘woman’ or ‘man’ – or fit into sex
categories of female or male. Transgender people identify themselves as a different gender
than that the one that was assigned to them at birth, while intersex people are born with
physical or biological sex characteristics which do not fit the ‘typical’ sex definitions of male or
female. In some countries, there are recognised ‘third gender’ people with a non-binary gender
identity. Because of their identity, transgender, intersex and other non-binary people are often
marginalised and face exclusion, stigma, and violence that prevents them from accessing
essential health and education services. In many countries where UNICEF works, transgender
people lack any legal recognition of their identity, further contributing to their marginalisation.
A recent review in the WASH sector summarised that national and regional estimates for the
population of transgender people could be between 0.3 to 1.2 per cent, putting a total figure at
tens of millions of people around the world20. Discrimination means that data and information
on the numbers and experience of transgender men who menstruate is usually not available
in UNICEF programme countries. In general, data and information on transgender women,
while scarce, is more prevalent than that of transgender men. Identifying transgender men and
transgender boys to be involved in MHH programmes may therefore be difficult. Indeed, it may
violate the principle of ‘do no harm’, by drawing attention to a person’s gender identity which
could expose them to discrimination or violence.
Transgender people face additional barriers to WASH facilities and services, particularly
toilets. A 2012 report of the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and
sanitation highlighted the exclusion, harassment, and abuse that transgender people often
face when using public toilets21. In addition to such abuse, from a practical point transgender
men who access men’s toilets will also usually not have access to infrastructure and services
for menstrual hygiene usually found in women’s toilets. And in school education programmes,
transgender boys may not be able to access appropriate menstrual health information. Another
recent review by WaterAid and other partners also highlighted the lack of attention to the
experiences and needs of transgender people in the WASH sector22.
There are few good practice examples to draw from, but the common principles of inclusive
and participatory situation analysis and programme design used throughout the rest of this
document apply. Some specific tips for including non-binary people in MHH programmes are:
• Include organisations comprised of and serving transgender, intersex or non-binary people

who menstruate in relevant coordination forums and as partners in programme design and
delivery.
• Where possible, consult with transgender people to develop safe and desirable options for
sanitation and MHH, avoiding generalisation by recognising the diversity of transgender
experiences.
• Understand the terminology preferred by transgender people in the specific context,

acknowledging that terms used by the general public may be inaccurate or offensive.
• Avoid further stigmatisation or exposure to vulnerability through the provision of services.

For example, in some cases, transgender people may prefer gender-neutral toilets, while
in other cases, gender-neutral toilets may expose them to harm and they may therefore
prefer gender-segregated facilities. Safety audits are useful tools to facilitate participatory
assessments and design.
• Where possible, work with education and health service providers to ensure they
are adequately trained and sensitised, to enable transgender people to access MHH
information, facilities, and supplies without harassment or discrimination.
20Boyce, P. et al. (2018) ‘Transgender-inclusive sanitation: insights from South Asia.’ In Waterlines, 37:2, 102–117 Available at http://dx.doi.
org/10.3362/1756-3488.18-00004
21de Albuquerque, C. (2012) Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation. Report of the Special Rapporteur
on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation. Available at: http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/
HRC/21/42&Lang=E.
22njamin, C. & Hueso, A. (2017) ‘LGBTI and sanitation: what we know and what the gaps are.’ 40th Annual WEDC Conference, Loughborough
UK. Available at https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/resources/conference/40/Benjamin-2649.pdf
71

Take Us Seriously: Engaging Children A guide to facilitating participation and engagement with children
with Disabilities in Decisions Affecting with different types of disabilities. The resource also provides
their Lives practical tips on identifying children with disabilities and overcoming
communication barriers. Available in English, Spanish, French and
UNICEF (2013) accessible formats (Easy to Read, EPUB, DAISY and HTML).
A web-based training for staff which is open to UNICEF and

external partners. It is a multi-media, 40-minute video that includes
Disability Orientation interesting and thought-provoking statements, resources and
good practices from UNICEF and partners from across the globe.
UNICEF It strengthens an understanding of, and capacity to support,
programming for children and women with disabilities. Available in
English, Spanish, French with accessibility features.
Based on the Disability Orientation training, and open to UNICEF

and external partners. The Inclusive Communication Module is
dynamic and engaging. The content is divided into three chapters
of 15-20 minutes each, and contains examples from over 30
Inclusive Communication Module
country offices. Upon completion of the module, it is expected
that participants will be able to: use appropriate terminology when
UNICEF
communicating about children with disabilities; confidently interact
with persons with disabilities; and develop materials and organise
meetings that are inclusive of and accessible to people with
disabilities. Available in English with accessibility features.
UNICEF webinar on MHM for girls The recording and materials from this internal webinar held in
with disabilities 2017 are intended to provide UNICEF staff with an overview of key
concepts and strategies for including girls with disabilities in MHH
UNICEF (2017) programmes.
The MHM in Emergencies Toolkit provides streamlined guidance

MHM in Emergencies Toolkit: Full
to support organisations and agencies seeking to rapidly integrate
guide, mini-guide and training
MHM into existing programming across sectors and programme
resources
phases. This toolkit was informed by an extensive desk review,
qualitative assessments with a range of humanitarian actors and
Columbia University and the IRC (2017) organisations, and direct discussions with girls and women living in
emergency contexts and directly affected by this issue.
Violence, Gender & WASH: A

This toolkit was developed in response to an acknowledgement that
Practitioner’s Toolkit – Making water,
although the lack of access to appropriate WASH services is not
sanitation and hygiene safer through
the root cause of violence, it can lead to increased vulnerabilities
improved programming and services.
to violence of varying forms. It includes tools like safety audits
and transect walks that can be used with girls, women, and other
House, S., Ferron, S., Sommer, M., Cavill,
menstruators.
S. (2014)
72
UNICEF Guidance on WASH & Dignity This guidance is meant for WASH and Child Protection specialists
Kits who are procuring WASH & Dignity Kit – First Response (S9901153)
through UNICEF Supply Division. The kit helps fulfil UNICEF’s
UNICEF (2018) commitment to provide gender-specific ‘non-food items’ (NFIs) to
women and adolescent girls in line with their rights to health, dignity
(Available internally to UNICEF only) and protection in emergencies.
A resource for coordination and management of WASH

Compendium of WASH in Schools
interventions in emergency preparedness, response and
Facilities in Emergencies
early recovery. The primary audience includes those who are
implementing interventions in schools being used as emergency
UNICEF (2012)
shelter and temporary learning spaces.

This comprehensive resource brings together accurate,
the world
straightforward, non-judgmental knowledge and practice on
menstrual hygiene programming from around the world to
encourage the development of comprehensive and context-specific
approaches to menstrual hygiene.
Module and Toolkit 6 Menstrual
hygiene in emergencies
Modules and toolkits 6 and 7 provide guidance for MH in
Module and Toolkit 7 Supporting
emergencies and the most vulnerable.
women and girls in vulnerable,
marginalised or special circumstances
Transgender-inclusive sanitation:
Insights from South Asia This paper provides insights from initiatives to include transgender
people in sanitation programming in South Asia, including three
Boy ce, P., Brown, S., Cavill, S., case studies. Practitioners are recommended to: engage with
Chaukekar, S., Chisenga, B., Dash, transgender people as partners at all stages of an initiative;
M., Dasgupta, R. K., De La Brosse, N. recognise that the language of gender identity is not fixed, varying
Dhall, P., Fisher, J., Gutierrez-Patterson, across cultures and between generations; and acknowledge that
M., Hemabati, O., Hueso, A., Khan, S., transgender people are not a single homogeneous group but rather
Khurai, S., Patkar, A., Nath, P., Snel, M. & have diverse identities, histories, and priorities.
Thapa, K. (2018)
Discussions on gender and WASH typically ignore non-normative

LGBTI and sanitation: What we know gender identities. To address this, this report reviews the existing
and what the gaps are literature on the interrelation of LGBTI and sanitation.
Benjamin, C., & Hueso, A. (2017) Overwhelmingly, the review reinforces how little is known about the
challenges LGBTI people face in relation to sanitation.
73
Section 5:
learning, monitoring,
reporting and evaluation
74
5.1 A global learning agenda

As noted throughout this document, many formative studies have described how
menstruation and a lack of an ability for girls to control MHH impact girls’ dignity, well-
being, and engagement, particularly in a school setting. But while MHH interventions
have been designed and implemented in many countries, studies have yet to confirm the
effectiveness of these interventions on education and health outcomes for girls. In 2016, a
review of the evidence on the effect of MHH on health, development and empowerment
outcomes found the evidence base to be ‘scant, not statistically significant, and largely
inconclusive23 ‘, citing a combination of small sample sizes and an over-reliance on self-
reported or anecdotal data.
For this reason, the first priority on the 2014-2024 MHM in Ten agenda is to build a strong
cross-sectoral evidence base for MHH in schools, for prioritisation of policies, resources
allocation, and programming at scale. UNICEF country and regional offices can support
this global objective by ensuring robust monitoring of MHH interventions, and by focusing
research efforts on the questions that remain on the global learning agenda – helping to
prioritise scarce research funding for MHH on the areas where evidence is most needed.
A 2016 article published by leading MHM researchers and practitioners summarised

priority areas for evidence generation on MHM in schools, as well as MHM outcome
measures that need standardised definitions. These are reproduced below in Table 424.
UNICEF is in the process of developing indicators on adolescent mental health and
participation, which will include attributes like self-efficacy, and bodily autonomy, and
would therefore be relevant to MHH programmes.
© UNICEF/UN0122321/Faffin
23SG (2016). An Opportunity to Address Menstrual Health and Gender Equity. Available at https://www.fsg.org/publications/opportunity-
address-menstrual-health-and-gender-equity
24Phillips-Howard, P. A., Caruso, B., Torondel, B., Zulaika, G., Sahin, M., & Sommer, M. (2016). ‘Menstrual hygiene management among
adolescent schoolgirls in low-and middle-income countries: research priorities.’ In Global health action, 9(1), 33032. Available at https://www.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5148805/
75
Table 4: Exemplar topics and research questions around MHM for adolescent girls
Topic area Research question
Neglect to • Why does menstrual need continue to be socially neglected?

address MHM • What interventions are required to influence social norms across cultures and improve MHM
worldwide?
issues
• Do WASH infrastructure improvements impact girls’ ability to attain equitable educational

outcomes with boys (with or without a specific menstrual product intervention)?
Environmental •
•
Do girls use the improved infrastructure provided for menstrual management?
Do WASH improvements ameliorate girls’ MHM challenges in the school setting?
infrastructure • What are cost-effective menstrual waste disposal systems?
• How can safe, hygienic, sustainable, and environmentally friendly disposal systems be
developed?
• How can programmes improve access to menstrual products, such as sanitary pads, other
absorbents, or menstrual cups, and availability of underwear?
• Are certain MHM products only culturally acceptable in some countries?
Hygiene •
•
How does culture or religion effect uptake?
Can acceptability and use be promoted globally?
products • How can programmes measure the benefits and risks of traditional hygiene materials
(such as cloth) in low- and middle-income countries and support safe practices?
• Can cluster-randomised controlled trials define the cost-effectiveness of MHM products
on hard outcome measures?
• What MHM programme delivery mechanisms effectively ensure provision for

School- schoolgirls?
• What is the effectiveness of psychosocial support programmes delivered through
based teachers, nurses, or counsellors?
programming • Is MHM education in schools a global necessity regardless of measurable health or
school outcomes?
• What modes of MHM service delivery best ensure girls in greatest need are served?
Delivery • What are the needs of girls with disabilities and what guidance is required to support
them?
channels • What is the design of an effective evidence-based community- or school-delivery and
support programme for refugees, orphans, street kids, or girls not in school?
76
• What health impact would MHM products have on reproductive tract infections,
vaginal discharge and odour, and urinary tract infections?
• What impact would effective MHM products have in reducing transactional (or
Girls’ health coerced) sex to obtain money for sanitary pads?
• How is girls’ psychosocial stress impacted by a lack of resources, guidance, and/or a
non-supportive school environment for practicing MHM?
Research and • What MHM programmes have successfully implemented activities and what are
strategies to lessons learned?
strengthen • What added value can the Cochrane approach of systematic reviews and meta-
analysis provide to aggregate and compare behaviours, impact, and cost-effectiveness
advocacy of MHM interventions?
and action
• What contribution does improved MHM have toward improving girls’ lives and
reducing gender inequity?
Girls’ • How will girls’ self-efficacy in managing menstruation correlate to later decision-
making about their bodies (i.e. age at first sex, sex negotiation, condom
empowerment negotiation, and contraception use)?
and cultural • What are the experiences of girls who do not experience regular menstruation and
norms how does this impact their life prospects (social isolation, marriage, etc.)?
• What effect do males have on girls’ ability to independently manage their
menstruation, and engage in safe, healthy, productive, and meaningful activities?
Source: Phillips-Howard, P.A., et al. (2016)
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© UNICEF/UNI169973/Markisz
5.2 Monitoring
When possible, monitoring should be done through national systems. However, for MHH
interventions, the indicators and questions used in the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys,
Demographic Health Surveys, and other national surveys (described section 3.2) may not
be comprehensive enough to monitor all inputs, outputs, outcomes, and results in a given
specific national or project-level theory of change. The above indicators and questions
primarily measure wider WASH outputs and some outcomes on women’s participation
during menstruation, but project-level monitoring will require more specific information.
Effective monitoring and evaluation of MHH interventions along a given theory of change
remains a priority. Globally, researchers and practitioners have prioritised the development
of standardised methods and tools for monitoring and evaluating MHH, but progress on
this area will inevitably take time. Country offices can support efforts by making use of
new measures in their programme design and monitoring as and when they become available,
and by including knowledge partners such as research institutes in their project design.
Monitoring MHH may consider the impact on the lives of women and girls by assessing
psychosocial outcomes such as stress, self-efficacy, and participation, as well as
educational outcomes like the acquisition of knowledge and skills, and health outcomes
like reduction in infection. In many of these areas, standard outcome measures have not
been agreed. While this is a limitation, it is also an opportunity for UNICEF to form new
partnerships with academic institutions, to test new indicators under development and
contribute to the global evidence base. The same 2016 article summarised priority areas
standardisation of MHM outcome measures, and is also reproduced in table 525.
© UNICEF/UN0294855// Frank Dejongh
25 Phillips-Howard, P. A., et al. (2016)
78
Table 5: MHM outcome measures that need standardised definitions

Outcome Outcome targets
measure
• Measuring girls’ MHM self-efficacy.
MHM outcome • Measuring girls’ ability to comfortably participate in class, their self-confidence, and
measures •
ability to manage pain.
Defining a quantifiable measure of ‘good menstrual hygiene’.
• Defining measures of improved engagement/concentration in school lessons.

School • Defining how to measure ‘school absence’ as a quantifiable effect of poor
outcome menstruation while accounting for other factors to ensure accuracy.
measures • Defining dropout and reasons for dropout, enrolment and re-enrolment, grade
repetition, gender-adjusted (parity) index, etc.
• Measuring menstrual hygiene practice impacts and MHM product effectiveness on

Health urogenital tract infection.
outcome • Measuring sexual risk among girls receiving menstrual products through coerced.
measures • Measuring violence associated with MHM in the absence of WASH facilities sex.
Economic • Measuring cost outcomes (cost-effectiveness, return on investments, costs of

outcome ‘case’ averted, estimate of full productivity due to completion of education, etc.).
measures
• Identifying appropriate measures of psychosocial health for girls, (e.g. mental
distress, anxiety, and depression).
Quality • Defining ‘well-being’/‘quality of life’ indicators, that is, testing Pediatric Quality of Life
of life/ InventoryTM (PEDSQL or 7 and 23 items measuring physical, emotional, schooling,
well-being and social indices, respectively) and EuroQoL (EQ-5D-3L measuring mobility, self-
outcome care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression).
measures UNICEF is developing of measurement tools and modules to measure adolescent
mental health, including depression and anxiety, which may be relevant in this area.
• Evaluating successful implementation of MHM-friendly WASH programmes in

schools.
Programme • Monitoring the impact of guidelines and education materials.
outcome • Identifying and validating MHM-related indicators to be included in multi-country
measures national-level surveys to assess changes in trends and outcomes over time
and correlation with other already measured indicators (facility access, type of
materials used, etc.).
Source: Phillips-Howard, P.A., et al, (2016)
79
To improve the quality of monitoring and evaluation and to contribute to the global evidence
base, UNICEF country and regional offices may partner with academic institutions. Together,
practitioners and researchers can carry out operational research that monitors not only
the outputs and outcomes of the intervention, but also whether the intervention is being
implemented as planned. This process monitoring is an essential part of adaptive programme
management, as the results inform rapid course-correction when the desired outcomes are
not being achieved.
Many UNICEF offices rely on knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) surveys administered to
children in schools to monitor MHH programmes. While this is an important first step and can
yield useful results, the reliability will depend on the design and interpretation of the survey,
and on the study population. The results of a KAP might differ depending on the method of
administration (e.g., self-administered, interview, focus group), design of the questions (e.g.,
open versus closed) and measurement scale used to classify the responses into levels. For
an often-sensitive subject like MHH, responses to knowledge, attitude and practice questions
may be affected by desirability bias. The design must consider the characteristics of the study
population, including literacy level, and care is needed to formulate acceptable and easily
understood language. For details and good practices on KAP surveys, refer to the Save the
Children Operational Guidance on MHM (see resources section below).
Principles to remember when monitoring an MHH programme include:
• Inclusion and participation: Ensure that all menstruators have opportunities to give
feedback on the programme, and that they are involved in the monitoring process.
• Triangulation: Use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods

to assess and reinforce the reliability of monitoring results.
• National systems: Where possible, build MHH monitoring into existing government
monitoring systems such as the education management information system (EMIS). The
JMP’s Core questions and Indicators for WASH in Schools includes an expanded indicator
set that can be used for discussion with ministries responsible for education.
• Documenting and sharing results: To advance the global learning agenda, monitoring
results can be most useful when they are documented, published, and disseminated to
affected communities, and partners and used to adapt and scale up the programme. The
MHM Virtual Conference is one dedicated forum to share results with a wider audience.
5.3 Reporting results within UNICEF

Outside of national monitoring systems, UNICEF has internal reporting requirements
as part of our accountability for results. Under the UNICEF Strategic Plan and Gender
Action Plan for 2018-2021, MHH results are tracked and reported in schools and in
humanitarian response. The indicators used are in Table 7 below and are captured in the
results framework of the Strategic Plan. MHH results are reported under Goal Area 4: Safe
and clean environment, which includes WASH and other programme areas. In addition,
UNICEF’s internal monitoring systems includes ‘strategic monitoring questions’ (SMQs)
that provide an opportunity to report further data on MHH, such as whether national
WinS policies, standards, or guidelines include MHH, and the number of girls and women
reached with MHH services in humanitarian settings.
UNICEF’s results framework reflects the UNICEF commitment to realising the rights of all
children, everywhere, and to achieving the vision of the 2030 Agenda, a world where no
child is left behind. Equity considerations mean that MHH and other data collection should
be tracked at disaggregated levels – by sex, age, disability, geography (rural/urban, region)
and by countries in humanitarian crises, where possible.
80
Table 6: MHH in UNICEF’s Strategic Plan results framework
Outcome Statement 4: Sustained use of safe water and sanitation services and adoption of hygiene
practices and strengthened systems for a clean and safe environment for all children, women, girls and boys,
particularly the most disadvantaged and those affected by humanitarian situations.
Output statement 4.b: Countries have implemented programmes to increase equitable access to
sanitation and hygiene and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and
those in vulnerable situations
Number of institutions (through UNICEF-supported programmes):

Output (a) Schools with separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys;
indicator (b) Schools with menstrual hygiene management services; and
4.b.1. (c) Health centres that have basic WASH facilities.
Output Number of institutions (through UNICEF-supported programmes):

indicator (a) Schools with separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys;
4.b.4. (b) Schools with menstrual hygiene management services; and
(humanitarian) (c) Health centres that have basic WASH facilities.
To monitor the specific situation of adolescents at the national level, UNICEF and its
partners have developed an Adolescent Country Tracker (ACT). The ACT, which is
currently being populated with country data by UNICEF's data team, includes five
indicators across five domains that have globally comparable data and are grounded in the
SDGs. Currently, MHH is not included in the ACT, but there is an opportunity to include
MHH indicators in the ‘Country Specific Indicator’ list at the bottom of the ACT matrix. It
is strongly recommended that countries select an indicator related to MHH for inclusion in the
ACT, given the significant impact the experience of menstruating has on all adolescent girls.
5.4 Evaluation
Across UNICEF, various kinds of evaluation are carried out to assess programme and
institutional performance in both humanitarian and development settings. Within UNICEF, the
Evaluation Office is responsible for maintaining the evaluation function of the organisation.
Evaluation is an exercise to determine as systematically and objectively as possible the
worth or significance of an intervention, strategy or policy. By providing this information to
programmes, evaluations help UNICEF to continually to improve performance and results, by
supporting organisational learning and accountability.
Evaluation can be built into MHH projects, as a component of WinS, education, and health
programming where possible, but requires foresight to ensure adequate investment of both
human and financial resources and the application of relevant policy and guidance:
• Human resources: Adequately skilled staff and external consultants and sound technical
and management skills. In MHH, this includes include gender and WASH expertise, and
expertise in adolescent development and participation.
• Financial resources: UNICEF is committed to allocate a minimum of 1 per cent of its

overall programme expenditure to evaluation.
• Application of policy and guidance: Use of UNICEF policy, norms & standards, and the
guidance and tools for WASH evaluations.
81
MHH is often a gap in WASH in schools and education evaluations. Partially, this stems
from the lack of a clear theory of change for MHH during programme design, as explained
in section 2.4. When a clear theory of change is available for an MHH intervention, the next
step is incorporating key MHH questions for qualitative and quantitative assessment during
an evaluation. As MHH access is closely associated with gender power dynamics, during
the evaluation phase, the programme impact on gender norms and relations should also be
considered.
For staff who would like to conduct an evaluation, consider the following recommendations:
• Carry out programme design with evaluation in mind, to generate more evidence of
the impact of different types of programmes. Implementing and evaluating different
approaches to MHH enables comparison and informed decision making by governments
as duty bearers and UNICEF as a support agency.
• Promote joint evaluations with other development partners and put the government in the
driver’s seat to generate lessons useful for policies and the entire sector. Joint evaluations
are a more valuable use of resource than conducting an evaluation limited to a UNICEF-
supported project and managed in isolation by UNICEF or its donors.
• Assess the scalability of the programme, as addressed in section 2.5. Small pilot projects
may be undoubtedly successful, but too resource-intensive to be successfully integrated
into national systems, which might limit the overall relevance of the programme as a
model.
• Assess the quality of MHH skills and knowledge building in schools, health centres
and communities, and the degree of integration between the three different delivery
platforms.
• Conduct timely evaluations throughout the programme cycle, so that the results can be
used for adaptive programme management. For example, a first ‘real-time evaluation’
might be carried out after the first year of programme implementation or at mid-term to
inform course correction.

This document presents recommended Indicators to support

Core Questions and Indicators for harmonised monitoring of WinS, as part of the SDGs. Questions
Monitoring WASH in Schools help standardise definitions of ‘basic’ WASH services and service
ladders, to enable easier monitoring pf progress. They are intended
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring for use in national or sub-national facility surveys and census
Programme (2016) questionnaires, and include expanded questions for MHM in
schools.
This document presents recommended core indicators to

Core Questions and Indicators for support harmonized monitoring of WASH in HCF in support of
Monitoring WASH in Health Care the 2030 Agenda. The indicators include definitions for “basic”
Facilities water, sanitation, hygiene, health care waste management and
environmental cleaning. Each indicator is supported with a set of
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring recommended questions for use in data collection, which allow
Programme (2018) classification of facilities in relation to “service ladders” that can be
used to monitor progress.
82
This guidance note is designed to help UNICEF staff and partners

understand and explore:
• What adolescent participation in M&E is and how adolescent

UNICEF Guidance Note: Adolescent participation can add value to monitoring and evaluation
participation in UNICEF monitoring and processes;
evaluation. • If, why and how adolescents can be involved in monitoring and/
or evaluation activities in different contexts;
UNICEF (2018) • The most important issues to consider when designing,
planning and implementing adolescent participation in M&E;
Online forthcoming • Existing tools and resources that can be used to support the
realisation of meaningful adolescent participation in M&E.
• This guidance note is grounded in UNICEF’s approaches to
programme planning, monitoring, evaluation and adolescent
participation.
Save the Children Operational Guidelines The Save the Children MHM Operational Guidelines consist of
on MHM three written chapters with corresponding appendices that provide
explicit and comprehensive guidance on conducting an MHM
Save the Children (2016) situation analysis, designing an MHM programme and monitoring
and evaluating an MHM programme. The MHM Guidelines were
(link) and accompanying documents reviewed and piloted internally by Save the Children and reviewed
(link) by external MHM stakeholders (including UNICEF).

the world
hygiene.
Module 9 provides information on research, monitoring, and
Module 9 Research, monitoring and
advocacy. In addition, all Toolkits provide checklists that can be
advocacy and all checklists in all
valuable tools for monitoring.
toolkits
Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) uses

Performance Monitoring and innovative mobile technology to support low-cost, rapid-turnaround
Accountability 2020 surveys monitoring key health and development indicators,
including WASH, MHM, and family planning. PMA2020 is currently
Johns Hopkins University active in 11 countries and has sub-national data sets on MHH in
some countries, with an expanded set of questions.
Since its inception in 1995, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys,

known as MICS, has become the largest source of statistically
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
sound and internationally comparable data on women and children
worldwide. The current version of the MICS 6 women’s individual
UNICEF
questionnaire includes 3 questions on MHH, meaning that data on
MHH are starting to become available for some countries.
UNICEF Office of Evaluation

Internal microsite
The Office of Evaluation microsite provides information and
Use of UNICEF policy, norms &
resources on the evaluation function at UNICEF.
standards, and the guidance and tools
for WASH evaluations.
83
Annex I: Key informants

Sincere thanks to all of the key informants for the generosity in sharing their time and knowledge with us
during interviews, responding to information and resource requests, and more broadly for their continued
partnership with UNICEF on topics related to menstrual health and hygiene.
PARTNER AGENCIES
BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION Alyse Schrecongost, Program Officer, Urban Sanitation Markets
THE CASE FOR HER Cristina Ljungberg, Co-founder
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, MAILMAN

SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Marni Sommer, Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences
GLOBAL AFFAIRS CANADA Leigh Eagles, Senior Policy Analyst, Education
Julie Hennegan, Research Associate in the Department of

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Environmental Health and Engineering
SAVE THE CHILDREN Jacqueline Haver, Senior Specialist, School Health and Nutrition
UNFPA Sylvia Wong, Technical Specialist on Adolescents and Youth
UN GIRLS’ EDUCATION INITIATIVE Nora Fyles, Head of Secretariat
WATERAID UK Therese Mahon, Regional Programme Manager, East Africa and South Asia
WHO/UNICEF JOINT MONITORING Tom Slaymaker, Senior Statistics and Monitoring Specialist, WHO/UNICEF
PROGRAMME Joint Monitoring Programme for Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
EXPERT CONSULTANT Sue Cavill
EXPERT CONSULTANT Sarah House
UNICEF OFFICES
BURKINA FASO COUNTRY OFFICE David Spalthoff, Chief of WASH
ETHIOPIA COUNTRY OFFICE Jane Bevan, WASH Manager
INDIA COUNTRY OFFICE Nicolas Osbert, Chief of WASH
INDONESIA COUNTRY OFFICE Reza Hendrawan, WASH Specialist
PHILIPPINES COUNTRY OFFICE Jon Michael Villasenor, WASH Specialist
ZAMBIA COUNTRY OFFICE Lavuun Verstraete, WASH Specialist
EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC REGIONAL Chander Badloe, Regional WASH Advisor
OFFICE Gerda Binder, Regional Gender Adviser
EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

REGIONAL OFFICE Florence Wanjira Munyiri, Gender Specialist
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Shoubo Jalal, Regional Gender Adviser
REGIONAL OFFICE Esmaeil Ibrahim, WASH Specialist
84
Annex I: key informants
Therese Dooley, Regional WASH Adviser

REGIONAL OFFICE FOR SOUTH ASIA Sheeba Harmon, Regional Gender Adviser
Toni Marro, WASH Specialist
Paola Babos, Regional Gender Adviser

WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA REGIO-
NAL OFFICE Kimberly Davis, Gender Specialist
Yodit Sheido, WASH Specialist
Patty Alleman, Senior Gender & Development Specialist

Lizette Burgers, Senior WASH Adviser
Cristina De Carvalho Eriksson, Adolescent Health Specialist
Jumana Haj-Ahmad, Youth & Adolescent Development Specialist
PROGRAMME DIVISION
Rafael Obregon, Chief of Communications for Development
Tamara Rusinow, Youth & Adolescent Development Specialist
Sagri Singh, Senior Gender & Development Specialist
Megan Tucker, Programme Specialist, Children with Disabilities
Gemma Wilson-Clark, Senior Advisor, Education
Anne Cabrera-Clerget, Contract Manager, Water, Sanitation &

SUPPLY DIVISION Education Development Centre
Sophia Rockel, Intern, Water, Sanitation & Education Development Centre
85
Annex II: Example MHH assessment checklist

The following checklist has been adapted from the bottleneck analysis tool and the assessment questionnaire used
for the 2016 East Asia & Pacific regional MHM assessment.
CATEGORY CRITERIA OBSERVATIONS &

OPPORTUNITIES
Enabling environment
Government leadership The ministry of education shows clear leadership for,
and commitment and is engaged in, the area of MHH in schools
The ministry responsible for sanitation and hygiene is
engaged in MHH
The Ministry departments responsible for adolescent
development, health and wellbeing, sexual and
reproductive health and rights and HIV/AIDS prevention
incorporate MHH into their work
Opportunities exist for professionals in country to learn
about and gain confidence in supporting MHH
Policy and targets Education policy, strategies and guidelines include

MHH, including community-based programmes for out
of school girls
WASH policy, strategies and guidelines include MHH
Health / HIV policy, strategies and or guidelines include
MHH
Three-star approach to WASH in schools includes MHH
MHH references specify actions for reaching girls with
disabilities, out of school girls, and transgender or non-
binary persons
Gender-related data is used for decision-making and
programme prioritisation
Budget and expenditure Costing done for MHH to inform budget allocation
Public sector budget line at national, regional or district
level earmarked for WinS
Sector budgets include an (adequate) allocation to
support MHH
Coordination Lead agency identified with clear accountabilities,

clear roles and responsibilities for each level (national,
regional, district and local)
Responsibility for MHH clearly allocated at each level
between health and education
Stakeholder mapping exists for MHH
Some form of working group on MHH exists
Religious groups involved in MHH
Advocacy Co-ordination mechanisms for WinS or school health

advocate for MHH
Specific MHH-related advocacy events held (such as
participating in Menstrual Hygiene Day)
86
Annex II: Example MHH assessment checklist
Monitoring and Expanded indicators on MHH are monitored through

evaluation education management information systems, and this
EMIS data is gender disaggregated
Education system incentives/recognition structure
includes gender outcomes
Formative research or other studies have been
undertaken to establish MHH taboos, norms and
practices and the priorities of girls and women
A monitoring mechanism exists for tracking progress of
good MHH practice at the different levels
Evaluations of WinS programmes consider MHH
Supply
Supply There are arrangements for the procurement and
distribution of WinS / MHH supplies and services,
including rural schools
A range of affordable sanitary protection products are
available in the local market (re-usable and disposable
options)
Knowledge commonly exists on how to make home-
made re-usable sanitary pads
MHH supplies are easily available, culturally appropriate
and affordable
The poorest girls can access sanitary protection materials
and associated items
Schools keep a supply of sanitary protection materials for
emergencies and girls know where they can access them
Facilities Day school and boarding school facilities allow girls to

manage their menstruation, for all religions and disability
status
Boarding school facilities incorporate extra design features
for the MHM needs of girls throughout the day and night
Facilities include a private place to change and bathe/wash
Facilities include safe, hygienic and discrete locations to
wash, dry or dispose of sanitary protection materials
WASH facilities are culturally appropriate, disability
accessible and well-maintained
A sustainable and safe waste disposal chain exists for the
collection and end disposal of sanitary protection materials
Learning Learning and teaching materials on MHH are available in

country and in different formats to be accessible for girls
with different types of disabilities and girls with low literacy
MHH is taught in the school curriculum to girls and boys
School health clubs or other out-of-classroom activities for
girls and boys incorporate MHH
Programme quality
Standards and guidelines National WinS standards include MHH and are made
available at every level (e.g., sub-national, school,
community)
MHH implementation guidelines and instructional
materials have been developed and made available at
every level
Standards and guidelines address vulnerable girls,
including out of school girls and girls with disabilities
School-based MHH is included in school management documents (e.g.

management school improvement plan, annual plan)
MHH is included in school budgets
MHH is included in school rules or norms
87
Curriculum and activities School curriculum includes MHH (integrated into subjects
such as biology, life-skills, health, HIV prevention)
Community-based education or health programmes
include MHH
National guidance is provided for school health clubs or
other out-of-classroom activities to incorporate MHH
Quality of teaching Standard teacher training includes MHH and how to

support female students in MHH
Training is available on MHH for teachers through stand-
alone professional development short courses
Parental involvement MHH is discussed at the Parents and Teachers Association

meetings
Parents have the opportunity to learn about MHH and how
to support their children
UNICEF
Country office UNICEF country office recognises MHH as an important
commitment to MHM issue in its country context and programmes
UNICEF Country Programme Document specifically
mentions MHH
UNICEF section strategies mention MHH (education,
WASH, health, protection)
UNICEF coordinates across sections on MHH
Country office monitoring UNICEF monitors MHH or sanitation/hygiene through the

of MHH results Adolescent Country Tracker
Country office report son MHH is in country office results
reporting, such as Results Assessment Module (RAM),
Strategic Monitoring Questions (SMQs), and Country
Office Annual Report (COAR)
UNICEF -funded UNICEF has prepared WASH, education, or health funding

programmes include proposals that include MHH
MHM UNICEF requires partners working on WinS to integrate
MHH into their programmes
MHM studies or evaluations have been undertaken with
UNICEF funding or inputs
Country office support to UNICEF has provided support (resources, advice,

enabling environment encouragement) to government to strengthen the
enabling environment related to MHH
UNICEF advocates for the inclusion of MHH in WinS
coordination mechanisms in country
Country office support to UNICEF prepositions MHH supplies for emergencies or has
humanitarian response long-term agreements (LTAs) with suppliers
UNICEF contingency Programme Cooperation Agreements
(PCAs) for WASH and education that include MHH
WASH cluster has agreed standards for MHH
UNICEF coordinates with health, gender, education, and
protection clusters (as established in the country) on MHH
preparedness and response
WASH consultation processes include guidance on
consulting girls and women
WASH assessment forms include questions related to
protection and MHH
88
Annex III: JMP core questions and indicators for monitoring WASH in schools relevant to MHM
Annex III: JMP core questions and indicators for

monitoring WASH in schools relevant to MHM
The following is extracted from the JMP’s Core questions and indicators for monitoring
WASH in schools in the Sustainable Development Goals, and was prepared as background
to the November 2016 International Learning Exchange on WASH in schools held in
Jakarta, Indonesia.
The JMP service ladder for WASH in schools defines a basic service level for drinking
water, sanitation and hygiene in schools. Multi-level service ladders for monitoring WinS
enable countries at different stages of development to track and compare progress in
reducing inequities. There are separate ladders for drinking water, sanitation and hygiene26.
Within each category, the core service ladder includes three levels: no service, limited
service, and basic service, where the ‘basic’ service threshold corresponds to the SDG
indicator for Target 4.a27.
DRINKING WATER SANITATION HYGIENE
Advanced service: Advanced service: Advanced service:

Additional criteria may Additional criteria may Additional criteria may
include quality, quantity, include student per toilet include hygiene education,
continuity, and accessibility ratios, menstrual hygiene group handwashing,
to all users facilities, cleanliness, menstrual hygiene materials,
accessibility to all users, and accessibility to all users
and excreta management
systems
Basic service: Basic service: Basic service:

Drinking water from an Improved sanitation facilities Handwashing facilities with
improved source and at the school that are single- water and soap available
water is available at the school sex and usable (available, at the school at the time of
at the time of the survey functional and private) at the the survey
time of the survey
Limited service: Limited service: Limited service:

Drinking water from an Improved sanitation facilities Handwashing facilities with
improved source but at the school that are either water but no soap available
water is unavailable at the not single-sex or not usable at the school at the time
school at the time of the survey at the time of the survey of the survey
Limited service: Limited service: Limited service:

Drinking water from Unimproved sanitation No handwashing facilities
an unimproved source or no facilities or no sanitation available or no water
water source at the school facilities at the school available at the school
Note: Improved sources include Note: Improved facilities include Note: Handwashing facilities
piped water, boreholes or flush/pour flush toilets, may be fixed or mobile, and
tubewells, protected dug wells, ventilated improved pit latrines, include a sink with tap water,
protected springs and packaged composting toilets and pit buckets with taps, tippy-taps
or delivered water. Unimproved latrines with a slab or platform. and jugs or basins designated
sources include unprotected Unimproved facilities include for handwashing. Soap includes
wells, unprotected springs and pit latrines without a slab or bar soap, liquid soap, powder
surface water. platform, hanging latrines and detergent and soapy water but
bucket latrines. does not include ash, soil, sand
or other handwashing agents.
26The service ladder associated with handwashing facilities is under ‘hygiene’, to allow for greater breadth within the ‘advanced’ service level,
including menstrual hygiene education and products.
27SDG Target 4.a: Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive
and effective learning environments for all
89
Core indicators relevant to MHM:
Indicator 2: Proportion of schools with single-sex basic sanitation

Definition: Proportion of schools (including pre-primary, primary and secondary) with improved sanitation
facilities at the school, which are single-sex and usable
Indicator 3: Proportion of schools with basic handwashing

Definition: Proportion of schools (including pre-primary, primary and secondary) with handwashing facilities,
which have soap and water available
Core sanitation questions relevant to MHM:

Question S3 solicits information about single-sex toilets. An alternative to questions S2 and S3 is provided
for countries or surveys with capacity for matrix style questions and interest in toilet quantities by sex and/or
usability:
S3. Are the toilets/latrines Note

separate for girls and boys? Single-sex toilets means that separate girls’ and boys’ toilets are available at
the school, or that it is a single-sex school and has toilets28. To be considered
separate, facilities should provide privacy from students of the opposite
sex, but this definition should be further defined based on local context, as
Yes needed. For schools that have separate shifts for girls and boys (i.e. girls
attend the school at a separate time from boys), pending local culture, the
response could be ‘Yes’ since at the time of use, the toilets are only for girls.
No This question may not be applicable in pre-primary schools.
Core hygiene questions relevant to MHM:

To date, WASH in schools monitoring has focused on water and sanitation coverage, despite evidence that
handwashing with soap may provide an even greater health impac29. This focus has been changing recently,
with the inclusion of handwashing facilities within the indicator definition for WinS in the SDGs, and a small
number of countries already including questions about handwashing facilities in their EMIS questionnaires. The
core hygiene questions support increased monitoring of this important aspect of WinS, including not only the
presence of infrastructure (Question H1), but also the provision of soap and water (Question H2).
H1. Are there handwashing

Note
facilities at the school?
A handwashing facility is any device or infrastructure that enables
students to wash their hands effectively using running water, such
as a sink with tap, water tank with tap, bucket with tap, tippy tap, or
Yes
other similar device. Note: a shared bucket used for dipping hands is
not considered an effective handwashing facility.
No
H2. Are both soap and water

currently available at the Note
handwashing facilities? To be considered available, water and soap must be available at one
or more of the handwashing facilities at the time of the survey or
Yes, water and soap questionnaire. If girls and boys have separate facilities, soap and water
should be at both. Soapy water (a prepared solution of detergent
Water only
suspended in water) can be considered as an alternative for soap, but
not for water, as non-soapy water is needed for rinsing. Surveys may
choose to add other response categories for ash or alcohol hand rub, but
Soap only
these should be kept as separate categories from soap to support SDG
monitoring.
Neither water or soap
28Based on the UNESCO-UIS definition

29Cairncross, S. et al. (2010) ‘Water, sanitation and hygiene for the prevention of diarrhea.’ In International Journal of Epidemiology.
39(1):i193-i205. Available at https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/39/suppl_1/i193/703351.
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Annex III: JMP core questions and indicators for monitoring WASH in schools relevant to MHM
Where these questions do not address all national priorities for WinS and there are
additional monitoring capacities, relevant questions from the expanded set could be added,
such as questions regarding menstrual hygiene management (MHM) or accessibility for
those with limited mobility (see Annex A).
Expanded sanitation indicators specific to MHM:

While usability of facilities, including availability, functionality and privacy, is included in the
core question set (S2), the expanded questions include aspects of acceptability that may
be more challenging to monitor, such as cleanliness and facilities for menstrual hygiene
management (questions XS1-5).
Acceptability
XS1. Is water and soap

available in the girls’ toilet
cubicles for menstrual hygiene
management?
Note
Yes, water and soap Check yes if water and soap are available for discrete personal hygiene
(hand and body washing), cleaning clothes/uniform, and washing
Water only reusable menstrual hygiene products (as applicable). This question is not
applicable in pre-primary schools.
Soap only
Neither water or soap
XS2. Are there covered bins for

disposal of menstrual hygiene
materials in girls’ toilets?
Note
Yes This question is not applicable in pre-primary schools.
No
XS3. Are there disposal

mechanisms for menstrual
hygiene waste at the school?
Note
Disposal mechanisms can include incineration or another safe method
Yes on-site, or safe storage and collection via a municipal waste system,
as appropriate. This question is not applicable in pre-primary schools.
No
91
Expanded hygiene questions specific to MHM:
The quality of hygiene services, including group handwashing, products and education related to menstrual
hygiene management, and solid waste management, are captured in questions XH5-7, which may be more
applicable in some contexts than others. In addition to these, questions are provided that relate to bathing
and washing areas, which are mostly specific to the current global norms for boarding schools, but may be
applicable in day schools, in some contexts.
Availability
XH6. Which of the following
provisions for menstrual Note
hygiene management (MHM) Bathing areas are separate from latrines and toilets. The design may
are available at the school?
vary based on local context, but at minimum should have water and soap
inside and be private (have closable doors that lock from the inside, and
Bathin areas
no holes, cracks, windows or low walls that would permit others to see
MHM materials in). MHM material types may vary based on local context. Availability
may be via free distribution or for purchase. MHM education should be
(e.g. pads) institutionalised (i.e. regularly taught in class or through a regular school
MHM education program) to be considered as a response for this question.
92
For more information on this publication and menstrual hygiene management as part of WASH in schools
programmes, contact Brooke Yamakoshi at UNICEF, [email protected]
93

UNICEF Guidance Menstrual Health Hygiene 2019

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Guidance on

Edited by Phil Poirier and designed by Noha Habaieb

This guidance is intended to be updated as new evidence and programme experiences

Table 1: Ten critical determinants for assessing bottlenecks and 28

Contributors came from the following organisations and country contexts:

DHS Demographic and health survey

FGD Focus group discussion

FGM/C Female genital mutilation/cutting

GAP Gender Action Plan

MICS Multiple indicator cluster survey

MHM Menstrual hygiene management

MHH Menstrual health and hygiene

NFI Non-food item

WASH Water, sanitation and hygiene

WinS WASH in schools

SRHR Sexual and reproductive health and rights

TOC Theory of change

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

UNFPA United Nations Population Fund

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) refers to management of hygiene associated

hygiene. Available at https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/documents/reports/2017-06/JMP-2012-post2015-consultation.pdf

Transgender (sometimes shortened to ‘trans’) is an umbrella term used to describe

In recognition of the inherently broad programming considerations of MHH, this guidance

This guidance is structured into five sections.

Section 1: A global opportunity

Section 2: Programme design

Section 3: Core package of interventions

Section 4: MHH for girls and women in vulnerable situations

Section 5: Learning, monitoring, reporting and evaluation

What is menstrual health and hygiene?

Management Needs in Schools’, in PLOS Medicine 13(2): e1001962. Available at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001962

MHH and human rights

1.2 A global goal

MHH in the SDGs

4.a “Build and

1.3 UNICEF’s commitment

Resources for Section 1

This strategy guides UNICEF’s organisation-wide contribution to

This evidence paper looks at 10 areas identified by SHARE and

UNICEF’s Strategic Plan, 2018-2021 highlights the organisation’s key

UNICEF Gender Action Plan, 2018-

This guidance document seeks to increase coherence, scale up

This comprehensive resource brings together accurate,

This report gives a concise overview of 1) the state of the evidence

This report details the status of MHM in schools in South Asia.

This review provides an overview of MHM policies and programmes

A comprehensive overview and analysis of the experiences of girls

2.1 Programming principles

• Technical working groups are led by ministries reponsible

Evidence-based and • Interventions are designed based on a needs assessment;

At scale • Programmes are designed for scale through government

Capacity-building • Programmes develop technical capacity within UNICEF staff,

Inclusive • Programmes make special efforts to reach and co-design

Collaborative • MHH research, programmes and results are built into

2.2 Supporting government leadership

An MHH working group provides a platform for civil society, non-governmental

WASH in Schools for Girls: Advocacy and capacity building for

WinS4Girls was implemented through global, regional and country-level partnerships.

1. Increased understanding of current MHM practices and barriers girls face

Lessons from the field: MHM working groups