To start the celebration of the International Women’s Month this March, GIZ Philippines welcomes Miss Eco International 2022, Kathleen Paton, and Mister World Philippines 2022, Kirk Bondad, as Goodwill Ambassadors for Menstrual Health and Hygiene for the country. Through the MHH project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in partnership with the UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, GIZ puts a focus on advancing girls’ and women’s rights by addressing menstrual health and hygiene issues.

The social media campaign is complementing the successful development of national monitoring standards for WASH in Schools and information drive on Menstrual Health and Hygiene reaching 27 million learners by the Department of Education supported by the Regional Fit for School Programme of GIZ. This effort won first place at the GIZ Gender Competition in 2022.

As Goodwill Ambassadors, Kathleen Paton and Kirk Bondad will be featured in different campaign videos and be involved in activities to break the taboo around menstruation and how it can promote gender equality. A series of advocacy videos will be released in the coming months as part of the #LetsTalkPeriod campaign – leading towards the global Menstrual Hygiene Day on 28 May 2023.

Similar campaigns have been successfully launched in other countries. What started as a social media campaign with #NepalsMenstrualMovement evolved into the gender-transformative #LetsTalkPERIOD approach implemented in Nepal, Albania and the Philippines – with more than 5 million people reached so far. It is fully in line with the German government’s ambitious goals for gender equality and strengthening the rights, resources and representation of women and girls worldwide through its emphasis on a feminist foreign and development policy.