5 YEARS OF THE HOMELESS PERIOD BELFAST - AN UPDATE

 If you’ve been following me on socials for a while, you’ll know that I focused my Beauty with a Purpose Campaign for the Miss Northern Ireland Contest on raising funds to be put towards a practical donation of pads/tampons to be redistributed throughout our community by the Homeless Period Belfast.

I’ve stayed hands on with the charity, post-Miss NI, as a campaigner and we’ve been busier than ever, and as we celebrate 5 years of the Homeless Period Belfast down at The Sunflower Bar, I thought I’d update you on everything we’ve been up to recently in one big post!

THE PERIOD DIGNITY SCHEME IN SCHOOLS

On 21st September this year, the period dignity scheme in schools was launched. This is after the HPB’s petition got over 5000 signatures in November 2020, as well as running countless surveys, and meetings/presentations with the Education Committee.

In January this year, our founder Katrina joined the Steering Group to oversee the implementation of the scheme. The important thing to remember is that this scheme is NOT exclusive to those in period poverty, and is inclusive of everyone who needs free & easy access to these essential items (because we’ve ALL been caught out before) 

So, all schools (yes, including primary, all boys’ and special schools) in NI have been allocated a budget by Stormont to spend on sanitary products and also offers menstrual wellbeing training to teachers.

Unfortunately, only 25% of schools have utilised this vital scheme, the money is waiting to be spent and surveys are ready to go out to measure the impact of the scheme, so we NEED uptake to ensure that the scheme continues past March 2022.

I totally get that some schools could be frustrated with the low budget they’ve been allocated, it has the potential to increase, if you uptake that allocated budget and provide feedback in the survey that’s due to come out this December. Please uptake whatever you’ve been allocated and use the survey to say how it does / doesn’t meet the needs of your school.

The Homeless Period Belfast worked so hard and campaigned for years to make this scheme possible, we NEED schools to utilise it and demonstrate the need for it so we don’t lose it.

Here’s a Step by Step of what Teachers Need To Do:

1. Follow this link to check your allocated budget for free products https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/news/mcilveen-launches-scheme-promote-period-dignity-schools  (orders over this value can be placed and will be charged to school budgets, boys’ schools have also been allocated a budget);

2. Place orders on the EA iProcurement portal (Schools can search for specific items by entering the Contractor Item Reference “FMM-21-002” into the search bar in the ‘main store’); and

3. Complete a nomination for Period Dignity Champion (s) to implement the scheme and attend training (noting that teacher release is available) https://ccea.org.uk/period-dignity-updates-form 

Further guidance can be found by following this link however the above is all schools need to do to get started. https://ccea.org.uk/learning-resources/period-dignity

Any queries regarding this correspondence please contact:

attendance@education-ni.gov.uk 

 

If you or anyone you know works in a school, PLEASE ask them about whether they’ve made use of the scheme, a lot of people don’t know about it or even send them this blog post all about it! 

The Homeless Period Team have campaigned so hard and put in such good work to make it possible, please let’s not let it go to waste.

THE FREE PERIOD PRODUCT PROVISION BILL

This September, HPB launched our ‘Just Like Toilet Roll’ campaign, a call on Stormont to make it a legal requirement for all public buildings / toilets (offices, cinemas, leisure centres, bars, restaurants, cafes etc.)  to provide free essential period products the same way they do toilet roll and hand soap.

This is less about period poverty and more about the fact that this issue has been side-lined and ignored for far too long, you don’t expect people to anticipate when they’ll need the loo and carry their own toilet roll every time they leave the house, so why should period products be any different?

HPB have been campaigning for free access to period products for years, and on the 13th November this year, the second stage of the Free Period Product Provision Bill by Pat Catney (SDLP) was passed with unanimous support and has progressed into Committee and amendment stage.

What this means is that the different parties, departments, & organisations like ours get to scrutinise each clause of the Bill and give feedback/suggest amendments. 

Ourselves and other similar organisations will be called upon to provide evidence to back up certain clauses of the Bill, and we want to see a few amendments. We want it to go further in regards to which buildings/sectors the free products will be available (it currently only names Health and Social Care Trusts; Regional Health and Social Care Boards and any public service body whose premises is a school, a further education institution or a higher education institution) We want to see them in libraries, restaurants, cinemas, everywhere that has a public toilet!

The assembly will then vote on any amendments to clauses and if they pass, the Bill will progress into the consideration stage and then the final stage, there should be a vote on the Final Stage of the Bill by March 2022

The full Bill can be read here: http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/legislation/bills/non-executive-bills/session-2017-2022/period-products/efm-period-products-free-provision-bill---as-introduced---full-print-version.pdf 

We firmly believe in free universal access to period products, not just for those who struggle to afford them. 98% of people we surveyed have had to use toilet roll as a result of their period arriving unexpectedly outside the home, and we’re glad our campaigning is paying off and our voice is finally being heard by the government.

The goal of the Homeless Period Belfast is not to grow or increase our outreach, it’s actually to be less needed until we can cease to exist. We no longer want to co-op for the government anymore, it’s their responsibility and, as we celebrate 5 Years of HPB, we hope to soon no longer be necessary.

I hope this has helped you get a better idea of exactly what The Homeless Period Belfast have been up to recently, whilst our period poverty work has also been continuing in the background 🤍