ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2022
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. Over 31,000 young leaders on 2,400+ campuses across 140+ nations applied to join the Class of 2022. 200+ campuses worldwide (just 8%) were selected to host the 3,000+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT PRAGYA PATEL, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2022.
Symbiosis International (Deemed University) Noida | Noida, India | Advancing SDG 12 & UNAI 9
" I am an advocate of pro-bono policy and intersectional justice. As I advance in my career, I would take up pro-bono litigation as my contribution to the justice serving machinery of India. To be able to pursue that, I am required to possess certain soft-skills and leadership qualities. I believe that the Fellowship would hone my skills and priovide an environment for heuristic experience. Apart from that, it would also instill managerial skills and time management and sensitize me to practical challenges coming my way during the course of the project while also providing support and guidance for tackling them. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Say Yes To Cups
When you think about the fact that every disposable pad and tampon a person has ever used so far is still present on this planet, it paints a horrible picture. Pads and tampons contribute to environmental degradation and can be hazardous to health. To give some perspective, tampons if left in the body for long periods of time can cause Toxic shock syndrome which can be life-threatening. In a country like India, where women’s hygiene is already a taboo topic, adding the guilt of environmental degradation on top of it is indecorous. However, in today’s world menstruating persons cannot escape the burden of onus for environmental degradation; rather they should not escape it. Approximately 36 percent of menstruators in India use disposable sanitary napkins. That means the country stares at a total waste burden of 12.3 billion. This impact on the environment is huge, but not using sanitary hygiene products is not an option to deal with the problem at hand, that is, menstrual waste generation.
Menstruation is a fact of life for 1.8 billion girls, women, transgender men and non-binary persons of reproductive age. Menstruation is not just a biological concept, talking about menstruation and menstrual hygiene necessitates discourse on equally pertinent and intersecting issues like sex, pregnancy, and reproductive rights etc. Therefore, the menturating persons deserve proper but cheap hygiene products , they deserve to know about the sustainable choices they have and what is best for their bodies. Mnesturations Cups are feasible solution on all the fronts as:
1. They are long-lasting, hence reduce the waste generation drastically.
2. They are portable and easy to use.
3. They are a conversation starter pn sexuality and hygeine. It is through the very process of using them.
4. They are affordable and economical.
The primary aim of the project is to replace the use of sanitary napkins and tampons with mentrual cups on a mass level. For achieving this goal the project encompasses two major tasks.
1. ground level research on the use of sanitary napkins versus mentrual cups
2. senitization of the target group on the amount of waste generation and harmful effects of the use of sanitary pads and encouraging the substitution of pads with mentrual cups.
There is a lack of awareness regarding the issue. The mensturating population deserves proper access to information regarding the impact of use of the products they use on the environment as well as their bodies so as to make a 'concious' choice of period products as per the needs and suitability of their body.
About the Millennium Fellow
Pragya Patel is a penultimate year student at Symbiosis Law School,Noida,India. She is passionate about climate action, gender justice and pro-bono litigation. She loves teaching, singing and writing poetry. Her vision of the future world can be summarised in few words: greenery, peace, more women contributors in the economy, children in schools and emphasis on vocational education. Through her project, she wants to 'break the barriers of access to information' to enable the mensturating population to make a 'concious choice' of period products as per their needs and suitability while also considering the impact on the environment.
