About Project ‘Urmi’
The Urmi Project enhances menstrual health and hygiene awareness in vasti areas & Schools, targeting women, girls, boys, and men. It distributes affordable sanitary napkins and educates the community on proper disposal methods. By raising awareness about menstrual hygiene, the project aims to improve overall health standards. Additionally, it promotes the importance of correct sanitary waste disposal. Project Urmi also aligns with the United Nations.
Schedule VII (CSR Act): Promoting Healthcare & Sanitation. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 03 – Good Health and Well-being, Goal 04 –Quality education & Goal 05-Gender Equality.
Under this project so far, we have reached out to 54,000+ girls & women to make them aware about Menstruation & provided Sanitary Napkins via Hygiene Kits (Annual requirement of a menstruating person).
Since June 2022, Urmi has also started Awareness sessions on Menstruation with School Boys and have been able to reach more than 3680+ Boys so far.
Objectives
- To create Awareness about Menstrual Health & Hygiene amongst both males (to some extent) &
females (primary focus) and discuss the associated myths. - Making Sanitary Napkins available at affordable prices (both disposable & reusable) & free
distribution (with the help of individual & CSR sponsorships). - Awareness about the importance of proper disposal of used napkins and other sanitary waste.
Impact
Measurable Impact of the Project (2025–26) – Based on responses of 9,210
girls’ forms.
- Girls who believe menstrual blood is pure increased from 28.4% to 71.9% after the session. The number of girls who were confused or did not know about periods dropped from 39.7% to just 10%.
- Awareness about the Janaushadhi sanitary pad scheme increased from 21% to 83.6%.
- Before the session, 74.8% participants already knew about pills to delay periods. After the session, 92.9% participants understood that using such pills can be harmful to the body.
- 96.4% girls, after the session said they will now track their period dates regularly.
- 92.2% girls, after the session said they now feel confident to talk openly about menstruation.
This shows that the sessions helped clear doubts, improved knowledge, and gave girls the confidence to speak up and support others.
Measurable Impact of the Project (2025–26) – Based on responses of 1,680 boys’ forms from Class 8 to 10
- Understanding of menstruation increased from 22.5% to 82.6% after attending the session.
- 93.2% boys agreed that awareness about menstruation is important for boys.
- The awareness about using Red Dot Bags for disposal increased from 17.7% to 94.3%
- 94.3% boys showed their willingness to help girls /women during periods.
- After the session, 92.4% boys said menstruation is a natural and important process.
Non–measurable Impact
- Urmi Project supports women from low-income communities by involving them in making Red Dot Bags, which also helps them earn some money. Through this, they learn about safe menstrual waste disposal, and the same awareness spreads to their families and neighbours. This has helped create
more understanding and openness about menstrual hygiene in the community. - Many college students join the Urmi Project as interns or volunteers. By attending sessions and helping with Red Dot Bag activities, they gain a better and deeper understanding of menstruation and become more aware and sensitive toward the topic.
- Urmi’s social media posts, like Friday Facts and video feedback, help spread awareness about menstruation to more people and encourage them to think and talk about it openly.
- In many village schools, teachers, especially male and even some female teachers, were hesitant to talk about menstruation. After attending Urmi sessions, they gained confidence, and they showed willingness to talk comfortably with students.
- After the boys’ sessions, many expressed their willingness to support female classmates or family members during menstruation and assured that they would not tease anyone.
Urmi Booklets are available in
- English
- Marathi
- Hindi
- Telugu
- Kannada
Activities for creating Awareness about Menstruation
- Urmi Awareness Session: Scientific information on Menstruation in easy to understand language is imparted to the beneficiaries (Women, Adolescent Girls, Adolescent Boys). Information about basics of menstruation like why it happens, changes that occur in the body, personal hygiene to be maintained, diet, available products in the market, etc. is provided during the session.
- Interactive Session at workplace:
Reducing the taboo, having open conversation about menstruation and sharing scientific information at the workplace with a group of co-workers (mix gender groups) are some of the objectives of this activity.
This activity comprises of introductions, information about Urmi, group discussions, a short film or presentation on menstruation and activity feedback. - Train The Trainer:
Training is provided to the interested volunteers/trainers in multiple sessions, so that they can conduct awareness sessions independently in the future. - Red Dot Bag (Sanitary Waste Disposal Bag) Activity:
Project Urmi (All about menstruation) works for awareness of menstrual health and hygiene. Through this project we also provide Sanitary Napkins and Red dot Bags to beneficiaries from community areas.
Red Dot Bag activity tries to spread awareness about proper disposal of used sanitary napkins amongst larger society. This activity enables society to adapt to clean and hygienic disposal of sanitary waste, so that it can be easily segregated by the waste pickers at the source.
According to a study done by SWaCH, every day it collects 650 tonnes of waste in Pune, of which 3-5 per cent is sanitary waste (diapers and pads). The waste pickers end up segregating 20 tonnes (roughly 20,000 kg) of sanitary waste every day, which becomes a serious occupational hazard.
Volunteer Role
- Volunteers will learn to make Red Dot Bag with the use of old newspapers for this activity.
- They can take a target of either 100, 300, or 500+bags and donate them to Project Urmi.
- Being a changemaker, Volunteers can participate to create awareness in their friends, family about this.
How to make sanitary waste disposal bag
You can also contribute in the following ways:
- Help us in making Disposal Paper bags to support – Red Dot Campaign.
- Individual sponsorship to sponsor a group of girls on monthly basis.
- Volunteer for awareness sessions. Organize Donation Drives.
Annual Report
2025-2026
- April 2025 to June 2025
- July 2025 to September 2025
- October 2025 to December 2025
- January 2026 to March 2026
2024-2025
- April 2024 to June 2024
- July 2024 to September 2024
- October 2024 to December 2024
- January 2025 to March 2025
2023-2024
- July 2023 to September 2023
- April 2023 to June 2023
- October 2023 to December 2023
- January 2024 to March 2024
2022-2023
2021-2022
2020-2021
Urmi Magzine
Sustainable Development Goals Aligned with Urmi
