About Gramalaya

Sanitation provides safety, security and privacy for women and children. Gramalaya envisions a society in which all people will have safe sanitation, adequate water and hygiene facilities that empower individuals and communities. Established in 1987 by Padma Shri Awardee Mr S Damodaran, Gramalaya has successfully demonstrated water and sanitation models over the past 35 years and plans to expand these to other parts of India including capacity building and support services to other organizations interested in the sector. The Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India has approved Gramalaya as one of the National Key Resource Centres (KRC) under the Jal Jeevan Mission by the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation for providing training and capacity-building support to Government Officials and PRIs working in the water supply.

Beyond toilets and water, Gramalaya has been working on promoting Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) among women and girls in Southern states. Out of 130 million Adolescent Girls in India, 71% of adolescent girls remain unaware of menstruation till menarche. In view of this high number, it is a sad reality that millions of girls and women are not able to provide themselves with hygiene products in a healthy and dignified manner when they have their period, and adequate sanitary facilities often do not exist. Furthermore, there is a lack of acceptance, knowledge and understanding of the body processes which also influence the mind.

To promote Good Menstrual hygiene which improves the health, confidence and self-esteem of women and is linked to gender equality and basic human rights, Gramalaya has promoted WASH facilities such as 700+ adolescent girl-friendly toilet complexes and renovated 180+ community toilets in south India where the toilets will provide Privacy , safety and security as well as incinerators for safe disposal of sanitary napkins during menstruation.

During the last seven years, Gramalaya has reached out to more than 18,96,700+ women and girls and helped them switch from unhygienic ways of managing their periods to using eco-friendly reusable cloth pads that would ensure healthy women’s society and environmental sanitation of the villages by preventing menstrual wastes thrown in the open. Other Menstrual hygiene products like Single-use sanitary napkins are hazardous to the environment as they take 500-800 years to decompose after disposal. Using single-use pads for long hours can pose serious health threats to women whereas reusable cloth pads can be Eco-friendly, Health-friendly and Pocket-friendly to menstruating women. More than 5,91,000+ reusable cloth pads are promoted by Gramalaya through social marketing and CSR Support in India preventing water, land and environmental pollution by stopping single-use sanitary pads among the intervention communities.

Gramalaya has delivered a noteworthy attempt in declaring India’s first sanitary napkin-free village where 100% of menstruating women and adolescent girls are using eco-friendly reusable cloth pads so far 71 villages in South India are declared as role model villages for following Environmentally sustainable and Healthy menstrual practices. Pudukottai District of Tamil Nadu is the most economically backward district of the state.After the WASH and MHM Intervention of Gramalaya, it is leading as the Role Model District for following Good Menstrual Hygiene practices, nutrition promotion and using Eco-friendly menstrual Hygiene products such as Reusable Cloth pads as a part of preservation ofenvironment.

The Women and adolescent girls who are residing in the villages and studying in the schools,and colleges of Pudukottai District are provided MHM education through the interactive sessions and IEC materials designed by Gramalaya. More than 500 teachers and Anganwadi workers are trained on a TOT basis (Training of Trainers) to further educate the girls about Menstrual Hygiene Management. Around 2000 Volunteers are appointed and trained in all 13 blocks of the Pudukottai district to spread the word about Safe and Sustainable Menstruation.

Gramalaya plans to scale up its operations across 10 states in the next five years in line with the Government of India Jal Jeevan Mission, Swachh Bharath Mission and through MHM and Nutrition programs to propagate the vision of Plastic-free environment and Sustainable Menstrual Hygiene Practices.

Gramalaya could able to showcase its successfully demonstrated best projects in SBM like the SMART toilet concept with attached bathrooms and MHM with eco-friendly menstrual products by participating in the exhibition and events at the 7th India Water Week.

We aim for a society where adolescent girls and women should be free from all menstruation-related health problems and lead a healthy life.

We request you to join us in this success story and support us by attending the summit in order to gain knowledge by our powerful speakers and share your valuable experiences.