Table 3 Overview of small-scale MHM projects introduced by the pilot team

Border point intervention: provide a basic MHM response for girls and women upon arrival.

This activity was led by the IRC Health Unit given their responsibility for providing health screenings at border points. Health sector staff from seven border points participated in an MHM training and then began integrating an MHM-specific question into health screening procedures. This enabled them to identify currently menstruating (or soon-to-be menstruating) girls and women and to provide them with a basic MHM kit (reusable pads, bucket, underwear, soap, clothespins, rope, and an educational pamphlet) for short-term use at the border point and in transit to the camps. Minimal improvements were also made to the toilet and bathing facilities at select border points, such as improving gender segregation through better signage, providing doors with locks, and providing a torch for nighttime usage.

800 MHM kits provided across seven border points

Provision of minimal improvements to WASH infrastructure at institutional facilities

This included ensuring that existing female toilets at institutional settings were upgraded with a few MHM supportive components, including providing shelves, hooks and mirrors into toilet cubicles, and repairing doors and locks.

Schools: improvements made in 167 toilets in Nyaragusu

Protection centers: 175 toilet stances in 15 blocks

Provision of a pubertal education book to Burundian boys and girls in schools

Given the lack of education available on puberty and menstruation for girls and boys in the camps, an existing puberty and menstruation education resource already available in Tanzania, developed by Grow and Know (www.growandknow.org) was translated from Swahili into Kirundi. The translated version was then printed and distributed to Burundian boys and girls in select schools.

11,000 boy’s books and 9000 girl’s books in Nyaragusu and Nduta