SSFA, South Sudan Football Association, has launched a football-based project to promote menstrual health and education in collaboration with FIFA.
As part of the project, Girls Interschool Tournament was organised in May.
The goal of the pilot project is to use grassroots football as an educational tool.
Following FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura’s visit to South Sudan in 2021, FIFA and the SSFA launched a pilot project in February 2022: Menstrual Hygiene and Education for Women and Girls Playing Football.
In South Sudan, 70% of women and girls don’t have access to personal care products such as sanitary pads and tampons. Girls in the country struggle to attend school and participate in sports on a regular basis due to a lack of access to and the means to obtain sanitary products.
This is where FIFA’s pilot project in South Sudan for Menstrual Health and Edu through Football comes in. Its mission is to strengthen grassroots women’s football, encourage girls to participate in the sport, educate them about hygiene products, and provide them with reusable sanitary products.
The Girls Interschool Tournament was held in May as part of this project. Juba City’s 27 primary schools gathered for the event. This was the 2nd activity in which the Menstrual Health and Education component was included, following the Women’s Football Tournament, which launched the programme in Feb 2022.
“FIFA brought the menstrual hygiene project to South Sudan as a pilot project. I think it is the first of its kind. And, yes, it is critical for us because, in South Sudan, 80-82% of the people are impoverished and live on less than two dollars per day.” Shilene Booysen, the country’s women’s national team coach, explains.