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What We Do

Girl Now, Woman Later is making it possible for girls in Burkina Faso to NOT skip on life, but live to their fullest potential!

Menstrual Health Education Workshops


We hope to reach more school girls in the future and we thought that you should understand our urgency:

Did you know that in Burkina Faso an estimated 21% of girls are absent from school when they have their period, and 83% participate less in class because of shame? Period poverty is an existing issue.

Did you know that 90% of girls do not know what happened to them when they first menstruated?

It’s not too late! Let’s help girls navigate school and to learn to manage their periods!

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Our Approach

Fight Child Marriage

  • Promote higher school retention and graduation rates for girls in Burkina Faso
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  • Educate the community on the importance and benefits of educating girls
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  • Educate the school community by including boys and men in the conversation about Periods

Tackle Period Shame

  • Raise awareness that period shame is an existing issue and address menstruation taboos
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  • Advocate for more menstrual education workshops in public schools
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  • Advocate for a No tax on period products.

End Period Poverty

  • Recognize the effects of period poverty.
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  • Recognize and amend the lack of access to period products
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  • End period poverty and instill period dignity

Gender Equality In Education

  • Raise awareness of gender bias
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  • Educate the community and school community that boys and girls should get equal freedom to study or do chores
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  • Advocate for more education about the importance of gender equality

Where Do We Work?

Girl Now Woman Later is a 501(c)(3) organization promoting menstruation health education in Burkina Faso, West Africa. We empower and advocate for a girl’s right to equal education. Burkina Faso has the 7th highest child marriage rate globally. Yes, you read that shocking statistic correctly. The 7th highest. A 2019 global database study by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL “found that 52% of the women in Burkina Faso currently between 20-24 years of age were married before age 18.” Less than half of the girls complete basic education. For example, the success rate for the first cycle study certificate, Basic Education Certificate Examination (B.E.C.E.), or the end of secondary term was estimated at 43.1%, with 38.5% for girls in 2018 according to UNESCO. Girl Now, Woman Later advocates for women’s rights by improving these statistics for young girls, through menstrual hygiene education

Time for the Period Talk!

Fast Fact – did you know that 90% of girls in Burkina Faso, West Africa do not know what happened to them when they first menstruated?

Girl clapping her hands in celebration, smiling

Why Girls?

Period shaming and a lack of menstrual health education correlates strongly with  gender inequality. For young girls in Burkina Faso, menstrual resources are  hard to come by, and some don’t even know what’s happened to them when their first menstrual cycle arrives. Older girls are absent from school when they’re menstruating due to limited feminine product availability and the social stigma associated with feminine health. Declining literacy rates among middle and high school girls are undoubtedly linked to the mismanagement of feminine healthcare. 

Our organization opposes these troubling issues and works to build a path to better outcomes for girls by performing several key actions in Burkina Faso’s communities. To address gender disparity in education, we offer a tuition assistance program for qualified students and organization members. We mentor young girls on how to pursue their educational dreams. We also provide access to feminine hygiene products and period education workshops.

 

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She Speaks Campaign​


A platform where high school girls can discuss, and share their experiences and inspirations.

Our Inspiring Quote ​

“The education of the girl is marked by the will to kill any attempt of resistance. She must be more obedient, less rebellious. What is of quality and a sign of virility in one, is a defect in the other. The little girl is, moreover, very early responsible for the numerous domestic tasks, which will prevent her from having time to play or to study. She will be less prepared than her brothers to face the outside world.”

Monique Ilboudo

Our History

Bienvenue, the founder still remembers the three things that her mom shared with her when she got her first period: One, you are now a woman. Two, you will get what is called a period once a month, which requires you to wear a pad during that time. And, three, you should probably stay away from boys. Bienvenue was still full of unanswered questions, but she didn’t dare to ask her mom because she could tell from her mom’s facial expression that she was more worried than joyful. We might not have an answer to why society or people avoid the conversation about period. However, at Girl Now Woman Later, we surely intend to make people uncomfortable by having conversations about menstruation /period. Eventually, we hope to make the topic less uncomfortable and become the norm to discuss. Thus, we need Girl Now Woman Later to start these conversations. We believe that the words “Menstruation” and “Period” should no longer be taboo. We say these words out LOUD (and with pride) of what it means to be a female because an educated girl will become an emancipated woman.

Mission Statement 


Girl Now, Woman Later, Inc., founded in 2020, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to helping girls in Burkina Faso, (a country in West Africa) learn to manage their menstrual cycles, stay in school and flourish into well-educated women. The majority of girls in Burkina Faso lack menstrual healthcare and this negatively impacts their schooling, often resulting in the involuntary termination of studies.

 

Vision Statement


Our vision is a world in which a girl’s education is not abandoned or taken away because of her gender; a world where she can freely pursue her education, still be a girl, and grow into an educated, skilled woman

 

Our Values


Inclusion: We are committed to including the school community and school boys in the conversation on gender equality.

Integrity: We adhere to holding ourselves accountable and transparent in managing the organization in order to maintain public trust.

Respect: We are committed to treating everyone with dignity and civility. 

Equal Opportunity and Sustainability: A sustainable community  does not exclude one gender in favor of the other. GNWL pledges to make female employment part of our mission by providing life skills, which will help to make her economically independent upon her graduation.

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