In October 2019, the Desai Foundation partnered with Shubhamkaroti Foundation in the Nanded district, Maharashtra with an objective to expand our Asani Sanitary Napkin and other programs for women and children in rural communities. Shubhamkaroti is a non-profit organisation working in health and women rights issues in rural Maharashtra which helped us launch our fourth Asani Sanitary Napkin production unit!
At present, there are ten women working in the production unit and twelve women work as distribution specialists. In just ten months, we have manufactured over 200,000 pads, distributed over 50,000 pads in four blocks — Nanded, Vasmat, Manvat and Kalmnuri — and reached over 1600 women and girls! They have also implemented our Masks of HOPE project and are employing women from the villages in Nanded to make hand-sewn face masks, which are further distributed across various districts in Maharashtra.