CAGEAD receives "Menstrual Hygiene Champions" Award
The Center for Advocacy in Gender Equality and Action for Development (CAGEAD) was honored with the prestigious Redvocate Award as Menstrual Hygiene Champions in Cameroon by the International Menstrual Hygiene Management Coalition. This event which held at Hilton Hotel in Yaounde brought together national and international Civil Society Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Individuals and other stakeholders working in the area of Menstrual Hygiene for award recognition and a Charity Fundraiser for World Menstrual Hygiene Day Celebrations 2026.
The International Menstrual Hygiene Coalition (IMHC) is a network and advocacy platform focused on improving menstrual health and hygiene for girls and women around the world. The coalition is committed to ensuring that girls and women can manage their periods “in privacy, safety and dignity”. Its overall goal is to create a world where menstruation does not prevent girls and women from accessing education, participating in society, or living with dignity and confidence. This aligns with the broader global movement for a #PeriodFriendlyWorld, which promotes access to menstrual products, education, health services, and supportive infrastructure.
Through IMHC the Redvocate Awards was born to recognize the efforts of organizations and individuals working hard and creating impact in the area of menstruation. On this edition of the Redvocate awards, CAGEAD’s years of impact in Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) was recognized.
CAGEAD through through her individual and funded initiatives has fought for the rights and dignity of young women and girls in schools and communities around Cameroon, especially in the crisis affected Northwest and Southwest Regions. Since her creation in 2007, CAGEAD has sensitized more than 15,200 students and teachers on the biology of menstruation and best practices through mass campaigns, trained 165 teachers as MHM club coordinators through direct training and step-down trainings, trained 75 peer educators to assist in the running of MHM clubs, created and assisted in the running of 20 MHM school and community clubs, held 12 community educational talks, 05 radio sensitization sessions, produce and distribute MHM manuals, posters, wheels, cycles and calendars, games and other facilitation materials for MHM clubs.
CAGEAD has also distributed 12,000 dignity kits consisting of reusable and disposable pads, pants, towels, buckets, soap, bleach, powder detergents, menstrual cycles and calendars. She provided sanitary dispensers, menstrual kits and analgesics to school infirmaries for emergencies, trained teachers and peer educators on the production of reusable pads and menstrual beads with local materials, rebuilt and rehabilitated 15 toilets to menstrual safe spaces for young girls and women and quipped them with maintenance kits, provided incinerators and dug pits for the disposing of pads.
CAGEAD has been keen on celebrating MHD increasing awareness on Menstrual Hygiene over the years. Through advocacy meetings, she has also taken advantage of the availability of key stakeholders to advocate for menstrual friendly policies in schools and communities.
Through these efforts, CAGEAD has greatly demystified menstruation and create menstrual friendly schools and communities. These efforts have earned her awards, one of the most recent from the International Menstrual Hygiene Coalition for Menstrual Hygiene Champions in Cameroon. This award was also officially presented to her mother Ministry, the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family MINPROFF, who with pride handed the award to CAGEAD’s CEO Mrs. Clotilda Andiensa Waah during CAGEAD’s 2026 Menstrual Hygien Day celebrations in Bamenda.
CAGEAD extends gratitude to all her local, national and international partners for believing in them and taking the step with them. This is a call for more work and collaboration for a period friendly world.
By Ngwayi Tangiri Marcel