Running Head: WHEP

WHEP (Women's Health and Ecological Project)

Cardozo S.

Rochester School

Chapter 2
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Abstract​: La segunda fase será desarrollada usando el artículo de Juan Pablo

Aljure llamado “Sistema de realización de un proyecto” (Aljure, 2009). La información
en el artículo tiene el propósito de guiar el desarrollo de un proyecto de grado paso a
paso. En este segundo capítulo tiene como propósito mostrar la situación actual respecto
a mi proyecto. La información del artículo sobre la segunda fase de desarrollo de un
proyecto será útil para evaluar la situación actual, y la manera en la que posiblemente
evolucionará hasta llegar a la imagen deseada. Mi proyecto es implementar
dispensadores de toallas higiénicas en los baños de las mujeres. Los resultados de la
encuesta también serán analizados para ver como refleja esta la situación actual del
proyecto y cómo podrá modificarse la imagen deseada.

Abstract: The second phase will be developed using the article by Juan Pablo Aljure
called “System for carrying out a project” (Aljure, 2009). The information in the article is
intended to guide the development of a degree project step by step. In this second chapter I
have the purpose of showing the current situation regarding my project. The information in
the article about the second phase of project development will be useful to assess the current
situation, and the way in which it will possibly evolve until reaching the desired image. My
project is to implement sanitary pads dispensers in the women's restrooms. The results of the
survey will also be analyzed to see how this reflects the current situation of the project and
how the desired image can be modified.

As I mentioned in the first chapter, the purpose of this project is about implementing
biodegradable sanitary towels in dispensers and that girls on the 5th building (High School)
and last floor of the 4th building can use them. The idea is that the project can help girls feel
more comfortable with their periods and at the same time help the environment by generating
less plastic waste like regular towels. Also the purpose with this project is to support the
normalization of the periods and to leave aside the taboo and stigma around them.
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Survey Analysis:​ In the previous phase of the project I carried out a survey with the
purpose of evaluating and analyzing my desired image versus the current situation of my
project at school. This survey will be analyzed and the purpose of each question will be
explained later in the text. My survey is made up of 13 questions in total, 3 of which are
general questions to get to know the people who answer it a little. An open ended question
and 4 other questions about my desired image; and finally 5 questions about the current
situation. The target population of the survey was high school girls and teachers, with a total
of 83 answered surveys.

As I said before the first three questions are mainly to know the person that is
answering it. I need to know who they are, what grade are they in and if they are a teacher or
a student. As this chapter is about the current situation I included 5 questions regarding the
current situation of my project at the school.

Figure 1. ​The first question of the survey its a general question to classify the
respondent.

The purpose of this question was to find out who is answering by dividing them by grades.
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Figure 2. ​ Question #2 of the survey.

Figure 3. ​Question #3 of the survey.

This question has a very specific and important purpose. Knowing more or less at what age
girls start menstruating is necessary because it is essential to know from what grade it would
be appropriate to implement the dispensers. As can be analyzed in the results of this question,
all high school girls have already had their menarche. Which means that everyone would be
in need of hygiene products.
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Before the next question I gave this information: My desired image for this project is to
implement sanitary pad dispensers. These dispensers would be placed in the girls' bathrooms,
in block 5. The extraordinary thing about these towels is that they would be 100% ecological
and biodegradable. Normal sanitary towels take hundreds of years to degrade. It is also said
that on average a woman uses between 11,000 and 15,000 towels or tampons in her life,
which leaves mountains of plastic waste. Changing regular to biodegradable towels helps
reduce the environmental impact we have with their monthly waste.

I gave this information to show what my desired image is and for them to take into account
when they answer the following questions;

Figure 4. ​This is question #4 of the survey

This question is very important because I need to take into account the opinion and
perception of others regarding my desired image. Most answered that they would not add
anything to my desired image, or that they loved it or that it was fine. The answers that if they
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had any doubts were as if the towels from the dispensers were going to be free or if they
would have a price or what would be the price of these. To which I will go into detail later.

Figure 5.​ This is question #5, this is a question about my desired image. Its to know the
opinion about others regarding the project.

Figure 6.
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Figure 7.

Figure 8.

As for my desired image, with these results I am very positive about the project. In the
questions about my desired image, the majority answered that this project is very useful for
them (from 1 to 5), 1 being not very useful and 5 being very useful, 90.4% answered 5. As
for how viable they saw the project the majority answered between 4 and 5 (1 being not very
viable and 5 being very viable), 32.5% answered 4 and 62.7% answered 5. One of my
purposes with the project is that the girls are benefited and in the survey I asked If they
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thought it would be beneficial for the girls, the vast majority answered that it would be
beneficial, with 86.8% choosing 5.

Before I move onto analyzing the current situation I would like to take into account some
previous researches that can be related or similar to mine. One of those projects and
researches is BIOCARE1, this is a project about disposable biodegradable sanitary towels that
proposes an innovative business form which brings a natural product for the feminine
intimate care of women in the days of their menstrual cycle. They propose to improve the
intimate care of women through a product that does not irritate the skin and does not produce
infections, since it is made with cotton fibers with an added value that is the component of
vitamin E free of chemicals and plastic. In addition, this hygienic towel is biodegradable,
meaning that it will be easy to remove over time, not like conventional towels that take time
to degrade and that contaminate the environment. This product is aimed at women between
the ages of 13 to 59 who menstruate. The BIOCARE company will have its operations in
metropolitan Lima, their income will be for the sale of the product in its various outlets and
will have two presentations according to the woman's menstrual flow. The project of
BIOCARE was really useful for me and the project I want to do, it gave me important
information and it this is a potential provider for the school dispensers.

Figure 9.​ Is the packaging of the biocare towels.

1
​Bautista Bautista, K. M., Cáceres Consiglieri, G. K., Godoy Enciso, R. M., & Cancho Palacios,
G. L. (2019, February 18). Biocare. Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC).
Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC), Lima, Perú.
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Another important article I read was one of UNICEF2, this article is about how a school in
Bangladesh was having problems with girls attending to school during their periods. Mostly
due to the poor sanitary conditions there were, so they implemented strategies to help girls
stay in school on these days. The target population for that project was girls menstruating
(Ages 10-19) in the school of Bangladesh. On the context of several third world countries
have a problem in common, the lack of girls attending to school when they are in their period.
This was affecting the Bangladeshi school because their attending rates of women had
decreased significantly so the school acted against this. Just by the action of implementing
new and better bathrooms and conditions to the girls they started attending once again to
school. This is really important for my project because even tho we clearly have different
resources and conditions at Rochester School, girls tend to get their periods and not be ready,
as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10.

2
UNICEF. 2013. Simple solutions to keep girls in school in Bangladesh. Disponible en
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/bangladesh_70622.html;
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As we can see here if we put the dispensers on the bathrooms girls would always have
something to use when in their periods.

One of the elements that Juan Pablo Aljure highlights in his article is perception. The
promoter’s, the people involved and the legal system that surrounds the project, in other
words, me, other and context. He says that it is very important to understand all these
different perceptions and not get carried away by our own. It is an interesting technique
because that is exactly how we learn to look at things from a different perspective. My own
perception of the project is that it is going well, people seem to support it and willing to use
it. Others’ perception I think can be analyzed with the survey and that they are committed and
liking the project, that is very important well at the end they are the ones that are going to use
the project. And the context will be discussed later in the chapter. Also in my current
situation is that there are not enough options at the school when they are menstruating as
shown below.

Figure 11. ​ There are many times when women don't have the resources at hand when they
get their periods, and have to resort to other solutions as shown on the graph.
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There are five important components that need to be evaluated in the current situation of the
project according to Aljure’s article (2009). ​The first component is structure and it can be
seen in my project with the following steps i need to follow:

1. Contact the possible providers of the sanitary pads

2. Calculate the finances of the dispensers
3. Contact someone who wants to finance the product

​The second component is resources and it is pending on the provider I will further choose.
For this resource I can go back to the annotated bibliography and thoroughly revise it. The
third component is customer experience​, which basically seeks to understand the target
population and how they feel about the project. As I said before, the way to understand
others’ perception is through the survey and for what we can see they might be pretty excited
about it. The fourth component is legal and green context, the project clearly covers this
component and it is one of the factors it takes into account the most, since the objective is to
help reduce the plastic waste from regular towels. Finally the fifth and last component is
learning and innovation, with this project I have learned a lot about female health care and
about how good health in terms of periods can be beneficial for women.

Finally all the information gathered on this stage of the project has helped me a lot to see
where the project is and the differences between my wishes and the current situation, besides
it has helped me to have a clearer image of what I need to do next with my project.
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References

Zegeye, D.T., Megabiaw, B. & Mulu, A. Age at menarche and the menstrual pattern of
secondary school adolescents in northwest Ethiopia. BMC Women's Health 9, 29 (2009).
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6874-9-29

Bautista,K.M. (2019,February 18). BIOCARE. Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas.

Bojanini, J. F. (2005). Hábitos higiénicos y flujo vaginal recurrente en adolescentes .

Retrieved from cemera.cl/sogia/pdf/2002/IX2habitos.pdf

Felitti, K. (2016). Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad. Revista Latinoamericana . Retrieved from

http://www.scielo.br/pdf/sess/n22/1984-6487-sess-22-00175.pdf

UNICEF. 2013. Simple solutions to keep girls in school in Bangladesh. Disponible en

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/bangladesh_70622.html;
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