The Solution – CouldYou? Cup

The CouldYou? Model

CouldYou? is committed to finding sustainable solutions to the issue of period poverty. Ending period poverty is not just about providing a product, it’s about breaking stigmas and misconceptions as well as normalizing menstruation. Therefore we use a multi-disciplinary approach to ending period poverty once and for all.

CouldYou? Cup

We distribute the CouldYou? Cup to marginalized girls around the world. Not only is it the safest, and friendliest to the body, it is also the most economically and environmentally friendly choice for managing one’s period. Find out more about the benefits of using the cup below.

12 hrs

Without
emptying
the cup.

$10

$10 keeps a
girl protected
for 10 years

10 yrs

Reusable for
a minimum
of 10 years

Education and Empowerment

We know that just distributing the cup is not enough; if it’s not accompanied by education then no one will use them and no progress will be made towards a solution. So, what we do when introducing the cup to a new community is:

Host community meetings
When introducing the cup into a new community, we hold meetings inviting everyone in the community to inform, and to give them a forum to voice concerns and questions.
Life-skills classes for boys and girls.
We hold life-skills classes for both boys and girls; because menstrual health is not just a women’s issue and we need to stop treating it as such. In certain areas we have added consent education, to teach about self-love and respect.

Normalizing menstruation

We have numerous projects aimed at normalizing menstruation as well as combating stigmas and misconceptions associated with it. These include:

CY? Cup Music video
In partnership with Positivo Mozambique
Celebrity ambassadors
Such as Joselyn Dumas and Abuchamo Munhoto
CY? Cup Comic book/Animation
English and Portuguese

Employing marginalized women

We also create jobs in the communities where we do our work. We employ marginalized women to sew the cotton pouches that each bag is distributed in. Some of the groups we employ are:

Transitioning child prostitutes in Uganda
In partnership with Rahab House.
Mothers of severely disabled/ill children in Mozambique.
In partnership with Equip Mozambique.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is central to the CouldYou? approach; achieving results-based management (RBM) and provides useful information about the level of risk in our projects.
For CouldYou?, achieving accountability expectations means processes and practices that enable us to keep our stakeholders informed of our work, taking into account and balancing their interests, and ensuring equitable responses to their concerns.