Who We Are

The Global Menstrual Collective includes representatives from UN organizations, academia, government, funders, private sector, existing coalitions, advocacy groups, youth focused organizations, religious groups, independent consultants and international non-governmental organizations.

The Global Menstrual Collective (GMC) strives to drive and guide investment in menstrual health and hygiene through evidence-based advocacy. We are not creating a new global fund, or directly channeling investments. We have come together to use our collective strength to increase and guide investments toward menstrual health and hygiene at all levels.

Members of the Collective will work together to build the evidence and advocate for investment, policy and programming across multiple sectors (WASH, health, education, gender, etc.) to increase access to comprehensive and accurate information, affordable and quality products and services, and establish positive social norms and practices around menstruation.

Existing alliances, coalitions, networks and groups engaged with menstrual health and hygiene at a country, and regional are invited to be members of the GMC. Together, we can work to amplify grassroots voices, shape global advocacy through the inclusion of country insights and good practices, and support the translation of global knowledge into country level actions.

The GMC will further develop its membership structure and reach out to potential members to build a diverse membership of individuals and representatives of organisations that identify with the Collective’s purpose and priorities as agreed by the Founding Members.

Advocacy for improved investment will include the voices and priorities of young people and marginalised groups.

Who we are
purpose

Purpose

Our purpose is to drive and guide investment in menstrual health and hygiene through evidence-based advocacy.

We drive, guide, and promote investment in menstrual health and hygiene through evidence-based advocacy.

Members of the Collective work together on the following four priorities.

  1. Incorporating menstrual health and hygiene into relevant policies
  2. Strengthening the availability and use of evidence to drive investment in menstrual health and hygiene
  3. Mainstreaming a clear and strong public narrative for more and better investment in menstrual health and hygiene
  4. Collaborating across global menstrual health and hygiene initiatives to enhance collective effort

Members List

Members work together to build the evidence-base and advocate for improved investment, policy and programming for menstrual health and hygiene integrated across relevant sectors (WASH, health, sexual and reproductive health, education, gender, etc.).

Governance

The GMC represents members through a system of distributed leadership. The GMC's governance structure is purposefully light; with a loose alliance in place initially rather than a registered, separate entity. Formal registration may be pursued in the future based on need, i.e. form will follow function to ensure it is fit-for-purpose. Currently, the GMC has a Core Group comprised of 6-8 members. The Core Group enables the GMC to achieve its goals as effectively as possible, by leading, supporting and steering the collaborative efforts of the collective.

GMC Governance

Action Groups

The initial activities of the Collective are delivered by Action Groups that were self-selected at the co-creation meeting. The Action Groups are self-governing. They provide updates to the Core Group and are supported by the Coordination Team. New Action Groups may be formed by members and proposed to the Core Group. Action Groups may exist for a specific activity or be continuous and may disband over time.

Action groups (also known as Task or Working Groups) include:

  1.  Evidence group – Building and consolidating the evidence
  2.  Advocacy group – Developing a global advocacy framework
  3.  Public Narrative group – Mobilizing the public narrative
  4.  Collective action – developing collective identity and communication channels
  5.  Investment case for Menstrual Health and Hygiene
  6.  Terminology  group – developing common language and terminology for menstrual health
  7. Climate Change and Menstrual Health and Hygiene
  8. Private Sector Engagement for Menstrual Health and Hygiene

Not all groups may be active every year. For more information, please contact The Coordination Team.

Coordination Team

Day-to-day activities to coordinate the Collective and support the Core Group and Action Groups are conducted by a Coordination Team who report to the Core Group. The Coordination Team is responsible for carrying out a programme of work in line with the stated aims of the Collective. The members of the Collective, particularly the Core Group and Action Groups are required to support the Coordination Team in responding to requests in a timely manner.

The key roles and responsibilities of the Coordination Team include:

  • Contributing to strategic thinking and planning
  • Fulfilling agreed actions in the operational plan and work plans
  • Coordinating meetings of the Core Group, supporting facilitation, agenda preparations and logistics
  • Ensuring governance documentation is up-to-date, shared with members, signed and filed as required
  • Day-to-day management of the Collective – including membership requests, communication with potential members, reporting on progress to members and the Core Group, managing budgets
  • Managing internal and external communications

Core Group

Day-to-day activities to coordinate the Collective and support the Core Group and Action Groups are conducted by a Coordination Team who report to the Core Group. The Coordination Team is responsible for carrying out a programme of work in line with the stated aims of the Collective.

The key roles and responsibilities of the Coordination Team include:

  • Contributing to strategic thinking and planning
  • Fulfilling agreed actions in the operational plan and work plans
  • Coordinating meetings of the Core Group, supporting facilitation, agenda preparations and logistics
  • Ensuring governance documentation is up-to-date, shared with members, signed and filed as required
  • Day-to-day management of the Collective – including membership requests, communication with potential members, reporting on progress to members and the Core Group, managing budgets
  • Managing internal and external communications

Background

Graphic background

In September 2018, WSSCC proposed to co-establish with WaterAid, a global coalition for menstrual health and hygiene (MHH). The aim was to connect interests, commitments and expertise to scale-up evidence-based MHH programming.

A group of stakeholders from across sectors engaged in menstrual health and hygiene met in Geneva in March 2019, convened by WSSCC, to explore the case for establishing a global coalition for menstrual health and hygiene. This was based on the premise that the strengths of diverse organizations could serve to amplify efforts and reduce duplication for mainstreaming MHH across health, education, gender, WASH and partnership SDGs.

The meeting concluded that there is a unanimous call for a global collective to connect Menstrual Health actors to strengthen our work.  The lack of sufficient and evidence-based investment was identified as the biggest obstacle in accelerating progress and achieving results. The group concluded that focusing on evidence and advocacy to drive and guide improved investment in menstrual health and hygiene is a mutually beneficial starting point for a new Global Menstrual Collective. The illustration below was captured at the meeting to show what the group wanted to the Collective to be.

Collective Member Representatives and other champions

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Collective Gallery

#MenstrualCollective

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