Iris Group is leading action research under the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) project, to better understand the relationship between MHM and women’s opportunities for economic empowerment and growth. Specifically, the research assesses the benefits and costs of improved MHM in the workplace for women workers, and for the enterprises that employ them. Iris Group has partnered with four private sector workplaces in Nepal and Kenya to: implement pilot interventions that provide menstrual products to women workers; facilitate education and behavior change communication; and support the development of MHM-friendly workplace policies. It is also conducting a cost-benefit analysis to determine if providing adequate MHM in workplaces improves business and social outcomes, including women’s economic empowerment.

These pilot interventions were custom designed to each worksite based on formative and baseline research. Data collection methods include quantitative surveys, infrastructure assessments, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and discrete choice experiments on willingness to pay. Research participants include women and men employees, supervisors, senior management, leadership, and other critical staff. The project is addressing workplace culture that often stigmatizes menstruation and is promoting menstruating employees’ ability to manage their periods and speak more openly about their needs.