Profile and description
Starting from Mexico, in a world where the empowerment of women and girls remains a pressing issue, Niñas Sabias (Wise Girls) stands at the forefront, championing the rights and potential of young women across various communities.
Understanding that true progress is unattainable without the active participation and liberation of women, Niñas Sabias seeks to rekindle the matriarchal roots that many indigenous communities have historically embraced but have lost over time due to colonization
Mission: Niñas Sabias is dedicated to initiating girls into their wisdom and power, guiding them to succeed and thrive. Through a holistic approach that intertwines education, empowerment, and entrepreneurship, they cultivate stronger, happier young women who are ready to pursue their dreams.
Vision: The organization envisions a future where all girls are healthy, safe, and wise, equipped with the knowledge and confidence to navigate their lives with agency.
Goals: at the heart of Niñas Sabias’ mission is the commitment to end period poverty and stigma. They aim to increase body and cycle literacy among menstruating girls, ensuring they have access to locally manufactured eco-friendly menstrual kits. By empowering girls with knowledge and skills, Niñas Sabias fosters self-efficacy and increased agency over their development, health, and well-being.
Entrepreneurship: Niñas Sabias also believes in the power of entrepreneurship. In San Miguel Cuyutlán, they have successfully trained a women’s enterprise to manufacture the Niñas Sabias Kits, creating jobs and enhancing local economies.
Additionally, their program in Lake Chapala involves a passionate group of volunteers who sew the bags for the kits, significantly reducing costs while fostering community involvement.
Beyond Mexico, Niñas Sabias collaborates with micro-enterprises and women’s projects in Costa Rica to manufacture and distribute these vital kits.
Partnerships with Tarde de Telas y Te in San José, Incá^ in the Boruca indigenous territory, and Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation’s Four Heart Arts enrich their mission, ensuring that every workshop reaches girls with the resources they need.
Through the SOMOS project, Ayzoh! will work closely with Niñas Sabias to amplify these vital themes, ensuring that the voices of women and girls are not only heard but celebrated. Together, we strive to create a future where empowerment knows no bounds, and every girl has the opportunity to flourish / read more...
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Why Wise Girls / by Rotary Club
Around 80% of young girls lose their self-esteem when they reach puberty due to inadequate information and preparation for this life stage. Many communities have never even seen a textbook that discusses menstruation. In Mexican macho culture, menstrual cycles are hastily portrayed as dirty and private. In this misinformed culture, menstruation is considered shameful, dirty, or something to be hidden.
This is especially difficult for girls who have not learned what to expect, don’t know how to manage it, and lack access to essential sanitary supplies, which are financially out of reach for most. They begin to miss up to a week of school every month, fall behind, and eventually drop out, further perpetuating gender disparity.
Solution
This project provides education, opportunities, and sustainable solutions for girls entering puberty, focusing on the healthy nature of this process and celebrating the miracle of being a woman. There are three essential facets to this initiative that can change the trajectory of a girl’s life:
Education
Teaching girls about the changes in their bodies helps them understand the sacred power of creating life, empowering them to make informed decisions about their bodies and lives.
Opportunity
Effectively managing their menstrual cycle allows girls to stay in school or work, opening up opportunities and pathways for success and helping them achieve their dreams.
Sustainability
By receiving a menstrual management kit with effective, washable, and reusable products that last 3-4 years, the financial burden on each girl is reduced, and the issue of environmentally harmful commercial products is addressed. This gives GIRLS dignity, confidence, and eco-friendly, healthy solutions.
Our Methods
A successful transition between childhood and adulthood requires understanding complex physical and psychosocial dynamics, so this program takes a holistic approach. Teaching biological sciences through culturally relevant rituals and spiritual exercises enables girls to embrace their power and capabilities, allowing them to understand their bodies and develop a loving and caring relationship with themselves, leading to informed decisions.
Our methods are based on the “Wise Girls” Educational Program, which has successfully taught over 2,500 girls in Mexico and Costa Rica how to manage puberty over the past five years. Beyond teaching menstrual hygiene, Wise Girls teaches that being a woman is wonderful and that the ability to create life is a miracle.
The Girls’ Empowerment Program provides education and training that emphasizes understanding and celebrating the sacredness of womanhood, boosting the self-esteem of 5th and 6th-grade girls. Girls stay in school and have equal opportunities to complete their education, reducing gender disparity. The knowledge, pride, self-awareness, peer bonding, and reliable support systems established through the Wise Girls program contribute to the continued success of the girls in San Miguel de Allende.
Training Local Women to Become Teachers
We collaborated with the Wise Girls program to train young local women to empower girls with knowledge about menstruation and its implications for their education and health. The program included a hybrid training of 40 hours in person and 100 hours of online preparation. Each teacher is given a curriculum or manual to follow so that girls in predominantly rural schools receive the same material and are empowered to take control of their lives, complete their education, and proudly embrace womanhood. In December 2022, we graduated 10 teachers in San Miguel de Allende, and each has since led workshops for 5th and 6th-grade girls starting in the first trimester of 2023. This initiative is creating 10 new jobs for women!
Coordination with Educational Authorities
The Guanajuato Ministry of Education (SEG) is supporting this project, a key factor in gaining credibility with families and communities. Together with SEG, we have planned and coordinated the different stages of the program. We are now in the third stage, running from September to December 2023, with two to three workshops per week in rural and urban primary schools, totaling approximately 40 workshops. Each workshop consists of five 2-hour modules, empowering around 20 girls per session. By the end of this third stage, we will have empowered over 800 girls, with more than 1,700 since January 2023.
Distribution of Menstrual Management Kits
Each girl who completes at least four of the five modules will receive a menstrual management kit with effective, eco-friendly, reusable sanitary pads, lasting 3 to 4 years. The production of these kits will create additional opportunities for civil associations and jobs. We’ve explored various options with UNICEF and local sewing cooperatives, aiming to provide high-quality, durable kits at affordable prices to maximize this project's impact. In these early stages, Days For Girls, a non-profit organization empowering women, is our supplier for the menstrual kits.
A Small Investment for a Lifetime of Benefits
The total cost of teaching 2,000 girls during the 2023-24 school year will be $94,000 USD. The cost per girl is $47 USD, including the Menstrual Management Kit. This is being supported by donations from our local communities, Rotary clubs in SMA, the U.S., and Canada, and the Rotary Foundation.
Why Rotary Cares
The Rotary Club of SMA Midday has been a leader in addressing water, sanitation, and hygiene issues in the San Miguel de Allende region since 2008. During this time, they have planned, funded, and launched at least 1,500 rainwater harvesting systems and 120 dry composting toilets.
The Rotary Foundation, recognized as one of the world’s most effective and well-managed, transforms financial donations into life-changing service projects locally and globally. With the Foundation’s support, Rotarians promote global understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing education, protecting the environment, and alleviating poverty. Since its founding over 100 years ago, the Foundation has invested more than $4 billion in sustainable, life-changing projects.
Due to this and Rotary International’s goal to empower girls and women, the Rotary Club of SMA Midday has adopted and organized the “Girls Empowerment Program: Menstruation, Education, and Health” to benefit girls and women in rural communities of the city.
The lack of information and resources is a multi-generational problem. Often, mothers and older sisters are unaware of the timing and physical details of the menstrual cycle. Wise Girls is designed so that anyone who completes our workshop can go home and share their knowledge! This brings women together, fostering self-awareness and confidence, and breaking some of the taboos that perpetuate gender discrimination.
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Location
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Club Rotario SMA 4041 Fundación Rotaria, Callejón de Loreto, Zona Centro, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Messico
