Myna Mahila Foundation

With more than 320 million women in India without access to basic menstrual needs, compelling them to drop out of school and the labor force, Myna Mahila is on a mission to empower women to take charge of their bodies and prioritize their health so they can be confident, independent and healthy. Suhani, the founder, along with three slum community leaders met first in 2011 while visiting public toilets around the Dharavi slums to understand the challenges women experienced to maintain basic hygiene and dignity. After witnessing horrifying cases of women not being able to stand up for themselves and dismissing their health and agency, Suhani, Meena, Parvin and Malti decided it was high time to work closely with the women to help them stand up for themselves. Myna is a grassroots based organization, run and managed by its beneficiaries in slums and has three operational units: Myna Health, Myna Employ and Myna Research. Since it was founded in 2015, “Myna Health” has been providing women with health education and access to affordable sanitary pads at their doorstep. With its core beliefs around providing women with financial independence to truly empower them to make decisions, “Myna Employ” also generates employment opportunities and employability skills for girls and women in urban slums. “Myna Research” focuses on Myna’s data-driven approach which helps us make strategic decisions, based on data interpretation. Overall, Myna creates behavior and mindset change among community women around age-old taboos and provides financial stability.