HDFC Bank on Saturday announced it is committed to Stree Swabhiman, a programme that looks after sanitation needs and menstrual hygiene of women in rural India and will cater to the needs of over 25,000 women.
The initiative has been launched by CSC Academy, the CSR arm of the Government of India’s Common Service Centres (CSC).
CSC’s pan-India network acts as access points for delivery of essential public utility services.
The bank has partnered with Common Service Centres for this initiative.
As part of the programme, CSC Academy has set up close to 1,000 sanitary napkin manufacturing units across the country.
These units provide employment to rural women as well as double up as a distribution centre in their area. For a donation of Rs. 500, these centres provide sanitary napkins for one woman for a year.
“HDFC Bank is committed to this initiative that will cater to menstrual hygiene needs of over 25,000 women,” HDFC Bank said in a statement.
The finished products from the sanitary units are distributed to women and young girls from the less privileged and marginalised sections of the society and have limited access to basic hygiene requirements like sanitary napkins, it added.
“Educating and creating awareness among girls and women in the rural areas on the benefits of menstrual hygiene and easy access to eco-friendly sanitary napkin is the need of the hour,” said Smita Bhagat, Group Head – Govt and Institutional Business, eCommerce, and Startups, HDFC Bank.
“We believe we can truly make a difference in the lives of these women. This noble initiative is also in line with the Bank’s CSR umbrella brand ‘Parivartan’, which counts school sanitation aimed towards the girl child as one of its core objectives,” she added.