Unleashing the Power of Women and Girls
Georgina
Harding
11 July 2024
Our partnership with The Cycle UK and Sanitation First India is one of our longest. An initial grant in 2021 has evolved into a deeper strategic partnership and increased investment in their work.
In this blog, their CEO Georgina Ella Harding gives a snapshot of the value of flexible funding in achieving their goals.
“Here at The Cycle, we've been on an incredible mission for over 25 years to empower women and girls through sustainable WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) solutions and life-changing menstrual health education. During that time, we've constructed safe eco-toilets, restored precious water bodies, delivered period education classes, run menstrual disorder clinics, and tirelessly advocated to end gender inequality.
None of these achievements would have been possible without the generous support and partnership of organisations like EA Foundation. Over the past three years, they have provided us with vital flexible funding that has allowed us to significantly extend our reach and deepen our life-changing impact.
What makes this grant so special is that it came with a deep understanding of the importance of capacity funding. Rather than dictating exactly how the funds must be spent, they trust our team to split the funding as needed between sanitation projects, training programmes, and operational support for both our UK and India offices . This has meant that, for example, we have been able to recruit a monitoring and evaluation expert, strengthening our capacity to demonstrate impact.
This flexible, grassroots-led approach has empowered us to drive critical projects based on the specific needs of the communities we serve. With EA Foundation's backing, we've been able to expand into some of the most marginalised and aspirational districts of Tamil Nadu, India, bringing sustainable sanitation, clean water, and essential menstrual health education to areas that desperately require it.
The trust placed in us is truly invaluable. In addition to crucial financial support, they have also fostered strategic introductions to help our organisation grow and connect with new networks. They've visited the projects in India, enabling them to see our work first-hand, learn and get to know our hard-working on-the-ground staff.
The partnership has enabled the implementation of several transformative initiatives in recent years. In Padur, we established a long-awaited birthing unit to provide a safe, hygienic environment for mothers to deliver. The centre caters for some of the most vulnerable women in the communities. Alongside this project, in the hamlet of Masima Nagar, we constructed a women's community WASH complex to finally give residents access to clean water and sanitation facilities. For this year, we’re about to kick-start a project in another school in Tamil Nadu (in the village of Veeracholan) to bring WASH and menstrual education to young students.''




