Action Plan Title: Menstrual Hygiene Products (Self-Service Charity Vending Project)

What Next Steps will you take regarding your Action Plan?

I am currently graduating from high school, but I have already handed over the project to the following team members and it will be carried on in our high school. In the summer, I will be using the profits and public donations to teach hygiene classes to female students in Liangshan.

Has your project changed since you presented on it during your Pre-College Course? How?

My Op-eds have been published in Teen Ink magazine, Gloria Steinem’s Women’s Media Center, and UNICEF's Voices of Youth blog, a curated online magazine and blog for youth leaders worldwide to share their opinion on policy issues that matter to their generation. 

What new insight or learning do you have about this issue?

During the research, I found that despite the lack of systematic research on menstruation in China, menstrual poverty is widespread in low- and middle-income countries. For example, 7% of women and girls surveyed in Kenya relied on old clothes, pieces of blankets, chicken feathers, mud, and newspapers. 46% used disposable pads, and 6% used reusable pads. And in the experience of several volunteer teams, girls in poor, remote areas of China often have the same lack of hygienic menstrual products. Distracted, uncomfortable, or unable to participate because of anxiety about menstrual leakage and odor, their school experience is negatively impacted……. Menstrual poverty limits women's mobility and personal choices.

What knowledge or skills that you learned during your BELL/Leadership Institute course have you applied to your work on this project?

The two most important points are intersectionality and the possibility of diverse leadership styles. Intersectionality has made me reflect more on where I am and what I have experienced.