29th June 2023
Duke of Edinburgh Volunteering Project
Brighton Period Project was set up in July 2021 by a group of young friends who wanted to do something active in their community. They aim to tackle period poverty, which is the inability to afford period products. The group of young people speak openly online abut period stigma and the prevalent issue of period poverty. In their local community, they collect and redistribute period products to people in need, at places such as food banks and women’s centres. Since its founding over the last 2 years, Brighton Period Project has raised over £4000 and collected and redistributed over 20,000 period products.
Sylvie Williams, one of the volunteers, continued this project as the volunteering section of her Gold Duke of Edinburgh award. This also involved creating a ‘Brighton Period Project’ society at her college, BHASVIC. In a year, the society created and donated 50 winter care packages to people in need, as well as ran period fairs at college to promote the use of sustainable period products which gave everyone the opportunity to take the products they need. 49% of school aged girls have missed an entire day of school to their period, so the group felt it was important to bring this matter to their college.
Period poverty is the unseen and unspoken part of the experience of poverty, and the stigma around periods makes it impossible to ask for help. In the future, Sylvie and the rest of the group plan to continue this project, via online campaigns and donations. In particular, their TikTok account, @brightonperiodproject has surpassed 1 million views and 300k likes, the group hope this large platform helps draw attention to this important matter.
These young women strive for a world that is less stigmatised about periods, so other women and people with periods feel safe to ask for help (Photo below with Hove MP Peter Kyle)
