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About us

ABOUT US

The EME Foundation is working to eliminate period poverty and stigma through policy advocacy, the provision of period products, and stigma-busting menstrual education to everyone, including boys.

By addressing period poverty and stigma, we are advancing the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

  • SDG 1: No Poverty – Period poverty is a form of poverty. By ensuring everyone who menstruates has access to menstrual products, education, and clean facilities, we help combat poverty in all its forms.
  • SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being – We promote safe menstrual health by ensuring that menstruating girls have access to adequate menstrual education, the right hygiene products and resources, supporting their health and well-being.
  • SDG 4: Quality Education – We work to end period poverty and stigma, which are major barriers to girls’ education. By tackling these issues, we help ensure that girls can attend school and have the same learning opportunities as boys.
  • SDG 5: Gender Equality – Period stigma is a form of discrimination against women and girls. We are committed to challenging these discriminatory practices and ensuring equal rights for everyone, helping to achieve gender equality.
  • SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation – Access to clean water, working toilets, and proper waste disposal are critical for safe period management. We advocate for these facilities to ensure everyone can manage their periods safely and with dignity.
  • SDG 13: Climate Action – By encouraging the use of eco-friendly menstrual products, we support climate action by minimising waste and reducing the environmental footprint of period management.


Through our work, The EME Foundation is not only breaking down the barriers of period poverty and stigma but also contributing to the broader goal of building a more just, equitable, and sustainable world for everyone.

about us

OUR STORY

Our founder’s childhood experience inspired The EME Foundation. Growing up in the conservative town of Ondo in southwest Nigeria, Motunrayo overheard a conversation between two adults who claimed that getting a period during early adolescence meant a girl was wayward. Although this conversation took place before her menarche, she internalised it, leading to a long history of period shame. When she got her first period in early adolescence, she hid it from everyone, including her mother, to avoid negative social perceptions. Buying period products became embarrassing for her—she would conceal them in a black bag to avoid scrutiny. This continued for years.


Beyond the shame, she also experienced excruciating menstrual pain but could not seek help due to the stigma surrounding periods. She suffered in silence, fearing that discussing her pain would only reinforce the harmful beliefs she had internalised.

Approximately two years after her menarche, she attempted to visit a local place of worship but was denied entry to the auditorium because she was on her period and, therefore, considered impure.

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Motunrayo’s experience remains a shared reality for many girls and women in her community, where period taboos are deeply entrenched. In addition to being barred from places of worship, women of certain religious beliefs must visit a priest to be cleansed with ‘cleansing water’ after every cycle, as their periods are deemed impure. Some women and girls are outrightly forbidden from praying or cooking for their families. While Motunrayo was privileged to afford period products, many girls in her community, where poverty is widespread, could not, compounding the existing social stigma.


Now living in the United Kingdom, Motunrayo had long advocated informally for an end to menstrual stigma, but her primary focus had been on a different community project. As part of that project, she planned to distribute period products to girls to mark Menstrual Hygiene Day. However, when inquiring about the cost of period products, she discovered they had tripled in price since her time in Nigeria. Having spent most of her life in Ondo, she realised that the struggle to afford these essentials must have worsened for young girls without a source of income. Further research confirmed that this was not just an issue in her community but a nationwide crisis. The situation had deteriorated to the point that many schoolgirls in Nigeria were forced to choose between their periods and attending school.


Motunrayo knew that this project could not be a ‘one-off’ initiative. It was time to transform her passion for menstrual equity into concrete action and challenge a harmful social practice she had once been a victim of. Thus, on May 25, 2022, an outreach marked the beginning of a movement against period poverty and stigma.