In a gesture aimed at empowering education for young girls, Eco Bank, in partnership with the Uganda Red Cross Society, has donated 500 packs of high-quality reusable sanitary pads to the students of Kitebi Secondary School.
The donation, valued at UGX 10 million, is part of their ongoing initiative, Keep a Girl in School (KAGs), which seeks to address challenges faced by girls in accessing uninterrupted education.
The provision of reusable sanitary pads will ensure that girls do not miss school due to menstrual hygiene issues, a challenge that often leads to absenteeism and dropouts.
While speaking at the hand over ceremony, the Grace Muliisa the Managing director Ecobank said this is part of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) day celebrations where they spend the day with the community purposely to cause positive transformation.
“One is that today is the Ecobank day, which is the day when we spend time with the communities, and our focus as a group and as a family is to really to transform Africa through education. So we spend a lot in the education sector, we spend a lot in the health and that’s one of the things that we have been doing today at Kitebi secondary school. Secondly.” She said.
Muliisa noted that by partnering with Uganda Red Cross, their focus is on keeping the girl child in school under an initiative called keep a girl in school dubbed KAGs.
“What we do with KAGs is essentially promoting and promoting education, especially for girls that cannot afford what we call the menstrual sanitary pads. Most of the girls, as they go through this process, depending on where they are, depending on where they come from, they struggle. They struggle financially, they struggle with the stigma of how they experience it the first time. So what we are doing in partnership with the Uganda Red Cross is to make sure that we do provide sanitary pads for these girls,” she explained.
The Managing Director of Eco Bank noted that the pads provided to the girls are of high quality in terms of hygiene and can last up to 14 months.
“We provided sanitary pads to 500 girls at Kitebi Senior Secondary School, and these pads will last them about 14 months because they’re reusable, they’re quite high quality as far as hygiene is concerned.” She said.
In addition to the sanitary pads, Ecobank handed over a cheque worth UGX 2 million to Kitebi Secondary School to support internet connectivity. This contribution is expected to improve digital learning and provide students and teachers with better access to online educational resources.
“We have been able to support this school in transformation where we’re looking at technology, where we’re looking at artificial intelligence(AI), and the need for internet for you to be able to achieve that as a school. So we have donated Uganda shillings, 2 million shillings, to support the school bills as far as internet is concerned.” She added.
On his part, Naphtal Baguma, Head of Logistics and Supply Chain Management at the Uganda Red Cross, expressed gratitude to Ecobank Uganda for its continued support. He highlighted the importance of collaboration in tackling menstrual hygiene challenges and urged for nationwide efforts to address the issue.
“We aim to raise national awareness about menstrual hygiene. This cannot solely rely on donors, we call upon all Ugandans to be part of this humanitarian campaign for the good of our country’s girl child,” Baguma added.
Hajji Muhammed Kamulegeya, the Headteacher of Kitebi Senior Secondary School, commended Ecobank and the Red Cross for prioritizing the needs of the girl child and for selecting his school as a beneficiary of their initiatives.
“I thank Eco Bank and Redcross for the donation to Kitebi Secondary school girls in order to maintain them in school. From today onwards, we have opened the doors for Ecobank and Redcross, we have become partners and out of this partnership, our girls population of 1300 will benefit.” He said.
