Pad Project

The Pad Project partners with local organizations and grassroots NGOs to fund the placement of pad machines, implement reusable cloth pad-making programs, and run menstrual hygiene management workshops in communities around the world. We work with our partners to tailor each program to the specific menstrual health needs of each community.
Our programs are intended to ensure women, girls, and all menstruators feel comfortable and confident during their periods, which in turn will make them more likely to advocate for themselves, excel in school, and start conversations about menstruation that may mitigate societal stigma. In our U.S. based initiatives, we focus on all menstruators, but internationally, the beneficiaries of our initiatives are mostly cisgender women and girls.
The pad machines we place in communities are easy to operate, use locally-sourced natural resources to function, and require minimal electricity. The reusable cloth pad-making programs use local materials to produce menstrual hygiene kits that can last for 2 to 4 years.
Menstrual equity cannot be achieved through one machine, or even many. We take a multi-pronged approach to achieving menstrual equity by combining pad machines or reusable cloth pad-making programs with community partnerships, sexual and reproductive health education, and domestic advocacy work.
Please Note: Not all women menstruate, and not all menstruators are women. At The Pad Project, we are dedicated to supporting all menstruators, and we want to make sure our fight for menstrual equity is gender inclusive. We use the term “menstruators” to refer to all people who experience menstruation, including cisgender, transgender, nonbinary, and genderfluid individuals. However, we as an organization are still learning and growing, and we welcome all feedback.