Youth-led organization, Local Youth Corner (LOYOC) Cameroon has rewarded the brains behind special menstrual hygiene kits packaging to benefit women and girls in the country.
The awardees were unveiled during a ceremony at the organization’s Headquarters in Yaounde on Wednesday, May 21 – a week before Menstrual Hygiene Day 2025 observed this May 28 under the theme: “Together for a #PeriodFriendlyWorld”.
The contest launched in March this year sought to recognize and promote the best innovative menstrual kit designs from men and women below 35, according to the organizers. It was organized with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education (MINJEC).
In a statement, LOYOC said: “The competition encouraged young innovators to design groundbreaking packaging solutions aimed at improving menstrual hygiene management for adolescents and young girls.”
The Project Officer at LOYOC and Coordinator of the National Contest on Menstrual Hygiene Management, Agese Louneta told reporters that, the exercise was quite interesting.
“It’s really been an interesting project, having to engage youth from diverse backgrounds to share ideas, their concepts on different designs which can help promote menstrual hygiene management,” she said, adding that: “We received over thirty designs”.
The Coordinator further detailed that, the entries, “were really interesting, but we had to select just three. This is a milestone actually around menstrual hygiene to promote the management of menstrual health. It’s a challenge that young girls face in every region. This is a way to reduce the challenge”.
From an eight-person shortlist, Men Safe by Njuele Ngah Estelle; My Period My Pride by Ngwe Elenore & Co. and Daily Flow by Aboulou Nancy Raissa & Co shared the top three spots.
According to the Executive Director of LOYOC, Achaleke Christian Leke, the designs selected will be ameliorated and sponsored by LOYOC and partners, particularly UNFPA.
The objective, he said, is to get eco-friendly, cost-effective, discrete and creative kits designed by youth themselves as part of UNFPA’s mission to work for and with youth, as put forward by Lydie Mangele, representative of the organization.
Winner on choice of design
Speaking at the end of the event, an emotional Estelle Njuele Ngah, who emerged winner of the contest, she said she got stigmatized when her pads got exposed.
“I have had this project at heart since 2013,” she revealed, adding that: “Young girls don’t know to manage their periods. When I was young, we had classmates who were running up and down, scattering our bags. That’s how my pads got exposed”.
She stressed that she used to carry her pads in a little pencil case.
The traumatic experience, Ngah said pushed her to design a special bag from raffia, leather and beads. Titled Men Safe, the bag contains several compartments for the necessary menstrual hygiene items women carry along.
The myths
Giving women the dignity they deserve during their periods and eradicating the myths surrounding menstrual hygiene, LOYOC officials said, are the major motivations behind the campaign.
LOYOC, during the ceremony, condemned five myths surrounding menstrual hygiene. Viz; that women cannot conceive on their periods; that menstrual blood is dirty is not true, whereas it’s just a natural bodily fluid; that women cannot swim during menstruation and that women cannot exercise on their periods is unfounded given that “exercise can actually alleviate cramps and boost mood during menstruation”.
Among guests at the event was the founder of the Welisane Foundation – a leading actor in menstrual health, Welisane Mokwe Nkeng.
