The Leave no-one behind team at Rural Water Supply Network are running a new ‘hidden WASH’ online capacity building workshop for individuals in the WASH sector to learn about a brand-new element of inclusion, the perimenopause, looking at the needs of older women at the end of their reproductive lifestage. This will be led and live-taught by me with the support of RWSN staff.
As the first form of training on this topic in the WASH sector, this half-day capacity development workshop uses empirical findings from Ghana and the UK to introduce the ‘hidden’ WASH needs of perimenopausal women aged in their late 40s and 50s, expanding current understandings of equity and inclusion. In this workshop, we explore what the perimenopause is, women’s hygiene needs for menstrual hygiene, bathing, laundry and incontinence management during this lifestage and why they are hidden, and identify infrastructural issues faced by perimenopausal women from a WASH perspective. This workshop also helps participants to identify and implement the key infrastructural and software solutions needed to address the needs of perimenopausal women through WASH programming.
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
- Describe what the perimenopause is and list the associated symptoms of the perimenopause(including incontinence)
- Understand what is meant by hidden knowledge in WASH
- Outline the key WASH needs of perimenopausal women
- Describe the infrastructural requirements of perimenopausal women
- Identify appropriate solutions for meeting the WASH needs of perimenopausal women
Participant fee: 10 GBP (including a certificate of participation) Thanks to the financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation for sponsoring this course for RWSN participants.
Date: 17th August 2022
Time: 11am GMT- 3pm GMT (12pm BST – 4pm BST ) on Zoom
Participants can register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rwsn-workshop-hidden-wash-needs-of-perimenopausal-women-tickets-354601070347
Registration deadline: 15th August 2022.
Please note the course will be delivered in English. The number of participants for this training course is limited – participants will be able to register on a first-come, first-served basis.
This course is sponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation through RWSN, who are funding the majority of costs for each person. Each participant is requested to contribute a nominal fee of £10 to cover the cost of the certificate of participation as well as to keep the number of participants capped to a manageable number for the trainers. At present, we are accepting course participants on a first-come, first-served basis.