# Solidarity with Children with Disabilities Initiative (SCDI)

> SCDI is a women- and youth-led Community-Based Organisation in Rarieda, Siaya County, Kenya. Our social enterprise One Plastic, One Pad turns repurposed plastic-based textile waste into KEBS-certified reusable sanitary pads: Nyadhi Pads.

## Key facts

- Name: Solidarity with Children with Disabilities Initiative (SCDI)
- Location: Lwak, Rarieda Sub-County, Siaya County, Kenya
- Flagship enterprise: One Plastic, One Pad (Nyadhi Pads)
- Founder: Lyndah Christine Jakandang’o, Founder & Executive Director, SCDI | Founder, Nyadhi Pads; Researcher | Social Innovator | Community Advocate
- Email: partnerships.scdi@gmail.com
- Phone and WhatsApp: +254 723 156 679
- Areas of work: Menstrual health, Disability inclusion, Girls’ education, Adolescent mental health, Gender equality, Child protection, Environmental sustainability
- 3 tonnes: plastic-based textile waste repurposed
- 1,825: Nyadhi Pads ready for distribution
- 500: adolescents reached by our adolescent mental health pilot
- 5 schools: tracked across Siaya County

## Who we are

SCDI is a women- and youth-led Community-Based Organisation founded and based in Rarieda, Siaya County, Kenya, where communities face persistent barriers to health, education, inclusion and economic opportunity. SCDI addresses the compounding challenges faced by children with disabilities, adolescent girls and vulnerable youth.
We believe these challenges, period poverty, disability exclusion, school dropout, mental health stigma, gender inequality and environmental degradation, are deeply interconnected. SCDI implements integrated, community-driven solutions that address root causes, empowering girls, engaging boys as allies and building resilient communities from the ground up.

## One Plastic, One Pad

One Plastic, One Pad is a circular-economy innovation that repurposes plastic-based textile waste into KEBS-certified reusable sanitary pads: Nyadhi Pads.
By transforming environmental waste into a dignified health product, we simultaneously address period poverty, reduce plastic waste, keep adolescent girls in school and support their mental health and wellbeing.
“Nyadhi” means pride in our local Dholuo language, reflecting our commitment to restoring dignity for every girl we serve.

## Our programmes

- One Plastic, One Pad: Reusable, KEBS-certified sanitary pads made from repurposed plastic-based textile waste.
- Period and Peace of Mind: Centering mental health in menstrual education.
- Disability-Inclusive Menstrual Health: “No Girls Left Behind.” Engaging boys and male mentors through the Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM) approach to promote respectful, supportive school environments.
- Climate Champions: Youth for Change: School-based climate action and community clean-up drives.
- Period Cake Initiative: Celebratory, stigma-challenging menstrual health outreach events.
- Safe Circles: Voices Through Art: Drama, poetry and storytelling for child protection and mental health expression.
- Pad for Progress Campaign: Our sponsor-a-kit dignity campaign.

## Our approach

Our approach goes beyond product distribution. Through case management, SCDI identifies and enrolls adolescents, develops individual case plans, implements and monitors interventions, evaluates progress and supports appropriate case closure.
Nyadhi manufacturing and menstrual health programming are integrated into this broader pathway of psychosocial support, protection, education and empowerment.

## Evidence and monitoring

SCDI uses KoboToolbox, a globally recognised digital data collection platform, to track school retention rates before and after Nyadhi Pad distribution across five schools in Siaya County, generating verifiable, data-driven evidence of impact.
Our adolescent mental health pilot was presented as an oral presentation at the 16th EUSPR Conference in Berlin, 2025.

Certifications and affiliations:
- KEBS-certified (Kenya Bureau of Standards)
- Good Market member
- Catalyst Now member
- GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) member
- Also affiliated with GMHAN, Young WFPHA and GNDR
- Partner: Women Pioneers Africa / WPEN (Pad of Hope Initiative, Zambia)

## A pan-African solution: Nyadhi Pads in Zambia

SCDI is proud to serve as the product and manufacturing partner for Women Pioneers Africa’s Pad of Hope Initiative in Zambia, contributing Nyadhi reusable dignity kits to a programme reaching approximately 2,500–3,000 adolescent girls across Zambia.
This is not aid shipped in from outside the continent. It is an African-made product, developed by an African social enterprise, now scaling to serve girls in another African country: proof that homegrown menstrual health innovation can travel.
Every Nyadhi Dignity Kit produced for the programme carries the Women Pioneers Africa logo and “Pad of Hope Initiative” branding on its packaging, alongside the Nyadhi Pads wordmark, SCDI’s manufacturer credit and the GAIA and Good Market marks.

## Founder: Lyndah Christine Jakandang’o

Lyndah is a postgraduate researcher at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, whose work sits at the intersection of adolescent wellbeing, community protection, menstrual health, disability inclusion and social innovation.
Lyndah has presented at the EUSPR Conference (Berlin), the World Health Innovation Forum (India), the Aga Khan University Education Conference and the Women Achievers Africa Conference (Nigeria).

Conference presentations:
- European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR), 16th EUSPR Conference, Berlin 2025: “Enhancing Adolescent Mental Well-being through Community-Based Prevention: A Pilot Project in Rarieda Sub-County, Kenya.” https://euspr.org/16th-euspr-conference-berlin-2025/ https://euspr.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/16th-EUSPR-Conference-Programme.pdf
- Aga Khan University Education Conference: “Bridging Policy and Practice: Strengthening Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities in Rural Kenya.” https://www.aku.edu/events/elimu/Documents/Programme%20Conference.pdf

## Pages

- [Home](https://scdi-website.pages.dev/): who we are, Nyadhi Pads, programmes, our approach, evidence, Zambia, founder and contact
- [Partner with us](https://scdi-website.pages.dev/#contact): partnerships and the Pad for Progress dignity-kit sponsorship
- [Privacy notice](https://scdi-website.pages.dev/privacy/)

## Find us

- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/solidarity-with-children-with-disability-cbo-1407b4382
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1WrmRpKhPG/
- Catalyst Now profile: https://catalystnow.net/organisations/solidaritu-with-children-with-disability-initiative-scdi
- Good Market listing: https://goodmarket.global/oneplasticonepad