Changemakers restore the dignity of the girl child – Donate 15,800 disposable pads and 270 re-usable sanitary pads
The Capricorn Group and its employees, in their role as Changemakers, donated 15,800 sanitary pads and 270 re-usable pads to more than 70 vulnerable young girls from orphanages and other vulnerable communities in Windhoek under the banner of the “Dignity for Every Girl” initiative.
This was in celebration of International Day of the Girl Child held this week. The annual and internationally recognised observance empowers girls and amplifies their voices by creating awareness of their challenges.
To restore their dignity and raise awareness of the challenges many girls face, Capricorn Group used the International Day of the Girl Child to support Namibia’s Girl Child tangibly and called on their employees to donate sanitary pads.
Changemakers from the Group and its subsidiaries, Bank Windhoek and Capricorn Asset Management, went out of their way to purchase sanitary pads to support the “Dignity for Every Girl” initiative.
The Group’s donation ensured that 70 young girls received a monthly supply of disposal sanitary pads for a year and three washable pads that can last up to 5 years.
The reusable/washable sanitary pads were accompanied by a small guidance booklet and were purchased by the Capricorn Foundation through DEAR (Daring Eagle attaining results) Girl Namibia, a long-standing CSR partner of the Capricorn Foundation that focuses on empowering and inspiring
Namibian girls, particularly in deprived communities.
“Research shows that the dignity as well as education of underprivileged girls is affected due to the lack of access to adequate feminine hygiene products. Capricorn Group believes in supporting projects that address the basic needs of the vulnerable, especially the youth. For this reason, we encouraged our employees, in support of our Group’s purpose of being Connectors of Positive Change, to sign up for this initiative, to spend time with the group of 70 girls, and to use their resources to purchase these feminine hygiene products. This way, we are all doing our part to support and empower a young girl and address period poverty,” Marlize Horn, Group Executive: Brand & Corporate Affairs and Executive Officer: Capricorn Foundation said.
The handover of the sanitary pads was accompanied by an afternoon filled with fun events, a hearty meal for the girls, and an inspirational talk by Justine Andreas, the founder of Dear Girl Namibia. The remaining pads donated by Capricorn Group’s employees will be distributed by Imago Dei, one of the Capricorn Group’s CSR implementation partners to vulnerable girls in other communities.
The Capricorn Foundation committed N$168,210 to DEAR Girl Namibia earlier this year, enabling them to support 500 girls in various schools nationwide with sanitary products and information booklets. Since July 2023, Okulupa Combined School, the Oshigambo High School in the Oshikoto region, Da Palm Senior Secondary School in the Erongo region, Uitkoms Primary School, Hardap region, Kavango West and Omusati region have benefitted from the project with more outreaches planned in Kavango West and Omusati regions.
