16/02/2026
The AU 39th Summit !
🔹 The WASH Forum — Hearing ministers talk about "accelerating access" while thinking of the Ethiopian girls I met who miss a week of school every month. Acceleration can't come fast enough.
🔹 42GIMAC "Reclaiming Dignity" From every girl who hides in shame, every woman who misses work because there's no toilet, no pad, no water. I felt that in my chest.
🔹 ECOSOC sessions — The economists spoke my language. Return on investment. Productivity, women Empowerment. But I kept thinking about my first conversation with a school principal who told me girls were dropping out because of periods. The cost isn't abstract. It's her future.
🔹 The AU Summit theme itself— Water and sanitation as the foundation of Agenda 2063. We can't build Africa's future on broken infrastructure that excludes half the population.
Why this matters for menstrual health advocates , policy makers , and manufacturers like
Reusable pads are our entry point. But the real work is at this intersection — where WASH meets gender, where policy meets the playground, where dignity isn't donated but built into systems.
These forums confirmed something: we're not alone in this. The AU is speaking our language. Ministries are opening doors. Other founders are fighting similar fights.
To every girl who ever missed school because of her period: we're not just talking about you. We're finally talking like you matter. You do.
To my fellow social entrepreneurs working in the messy middle of WASH and gender — keep going. The summit halls are listening now.
39thAUSummit SocialEnterprise Ethiopia Agenda2063 FounderJourney PeriodPoverty DignityForAll
