Project RISHI @ UCLA
Our Projects
Project RISHI at UCLA is committed to creating lasting change through our diverse campaigns and programs. While we maintain a clear mission, we employ a broad range of strategies to address critical issues within the South Asian community, including water sanitation, healthcare, and women's and community empowerment.
Learn more about our initiatives and get involved yourself.
Women's Empowerment
About Our Team
The Women's Empowerment (W.E.) committee is dedicated to empowering women and girls in Vadamanapakkam and Attrambakkam through women's health education, greater access to health resources designed for women, and opportunities to build leadership and knowledge within the community.
Past Projects
Past Projects
During the 2023 and 2024 Project RISHI India trips to Vadamanapakkam, members observed significant discomfort with disposable pads among schoolgirls, difficulty disposing of the pads due to broken incinerators, and stigmas surrounding menstrual health. In response, Project RISHI partnered with the Anahat for Change Foundation, a Kolkata-based NGO that provides sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and menstrual health (MH) education across India and sells reusable cloth pads under Anahat Unnati. With the support of Selvi Aunty, the leader of local women’s self-help groups, Anahat facilitated six workshops from January to November 2024. These workshops aimed to break the silence surrounding menstrual health, empower women and girls with SRH/MH education, and promote sustainability by distributing reusable menstrual products and teaching women how to sew their own cloth pads. A total of 150 reusable pad kits were distributed, and adult women reported particularly strong interest in workshops focused on making and using these pads. Data showed that the 30–39 age group had the highest attendance, and that schoolgirls expressed a strong desire for future workshops. Key local women (Selvi, Parimala, and Radhika) were identified and trained to sustain the work beyond Anahat’s involvement. The initiative progressed into a community-wide Women’s Festival, which reinforced a strong collective interest in reproductive health education and emphasized the workshop’s success..
Ongoing Projects
Looking ahead, Women's Empowerment committee is focused on empowering women through women's health education, increasing access to health resources specifically for women, and growing members' own global health knowledge and leadership skills. The team's work centers on the women and children who visit the RISHI clinic and the schoolgirls at the secondary school in Vadamanapakkam, as well as students at tuition centers in Attrambakkam. In Vadamanapakkam, potential directions include posters and videos for the RISHI clinic on menstrual hygiene and prenatal care nutrition, bringing an OB/GYN doctor to the clinic, workshops with self-help groups (SHGs) and schoolgirls, bathroom incinerators for the secondary school, and income generation with Blossom Trust. In Attrambakkam, the team hopes to develop tuition center modules on sexual harassment, menstrual health, and menstrual hygiene. Many of these efforts will be collaborative: with W.A.S.H. on bathroom incinerators and proper pad disposal, with Health Advocacy on clinic posters and videos, and with E.C.E. on income generation and ari work through Blossom Trust. Members will have end-to-end ownership of their projects, with room for the committee to grow in the direction of their interests, work that spans both software and hardware.