Promoting private sector investment in Menstrual Health and Hygiene in Ethiopia

Not all girls and women in the world are equal when it comes to Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MH&H). In Ethiopia, many of them have no sanitary facilities to change their sanitary protection and have difficulty accessing quality hygiene products.

As in many countries, the subject is taboo and investment in the sector is a low priority. As a result, many women and girls find themselves excluded from society, missing school or work during menstruation, and do not have access to the same opportunities as men and boys. 

The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and AFD have been working together since 2019 to finance an ambitious intervention program on women's empowerment using a new financial instrument: the Development Impact Bond (DIB). 

DIB is a blended finance mechanism where private investors prefund the intervention and take the operational risk of the project while payments are subject to performance measured by an independent evaluator.

AFD selected the NGO consortium led by CARE France as the operator for this project, which includes CARE Ethiopia and ProPride (a local NGO).  

BNP Paribas was selected as investor and will pre-finance the Intervention. It will only recoup its investment if an independent evaluator certifies the results of the intervention.

Thanks to this Development Impact Bond:

• In all, 325,000 people will be reached by the intervention.
• Approximately 100,000 pupils will benefit from improved sanitary infrastructures in their schools. 45,000 girls will benefit from a menstrual hygiene kit, reusable pads, free of charge or subsidized by the program.
• The project will also promote the development of a local market for menstrual hygiene products.
• Success of this project will encourage the government to replicate and scale up the intervention across the country.