Twenty-three-year-old Deane de Menezes, a young woman who has been spearheading an initiative called ‘Red is the New Green’ – which aims to create awareness about menstruation and install sanitary napkin dispensers and incinerators in schools across Mumbai – has been selected for the 2018 Queen's Young Leaders Award.
The Queen’s Young Leaders Award, which started in 2014, recognises and rewards the “exceptional work of young people around the Commonwealth.” Menezes will receive her award from the Queen herself, at a special ceremony to be held at Buckingham Palace in London next year.
On the Royal Family’s Facebook page, Prince Harry congratulated all the winners, which includes Menezes’ ‘Red is the New Green’ initiative.
According to Scroll.in, Deane had always been disheartened about the taboo around menstruation in the country, considering the unhealthy practices it generated as a consequence.
In an effort to change this, she procured funds from the CRISIL Foundation, an international analytical company, where she worked as a research associate and launched her initiative. She installed a sanitary napkin dispensers in some schools in Mumbai, which gave female students access to safe and hygienic sanitary napkins.
At the same time, she has also used the procured funds to install incinerators alongside the dispensers, so that the sanitary napkins could be disposed in a clean, hygienic manner.
Menezes has installed several sanitary napkin dispensers and incinerators at Auxilium Convent High School, Wadala, and its branch in Pali Hill, Bandra, among others, reported Scroll.in.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)