Menstrual Hygiene Management

Growing Together is designed as a companion to the family planning game Together We Decide and follows a similar structure. They have overlapping but not identical target audiences, and players could participate in either or both games (in either order).

The game is designed to be facilitated by a Boma Health Worker (BHW), or other influential community members. Prior to playing the game in each community, BHWs or relevant leaders will have an opportunity to exclude game cards that do not suit the community’s context. This ability to tailor the game and include only the most relevant game cards increases the scalability and adaptability of the game across various regions community.

The game consists of the following elements:

1. Interactive Game

“Growing Together’ includes two primary types of interactive cards – Quiz cards and Life Event cards. As players respond to the interactive cards, they win and lose support points. The quiz cards allow players to learn about menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Households earn support points for answering correctly. Life event cards present examples of healthy menstrual hygiene choices and demonstrate ways parents and other family members can support their daughters during menstruation. Some cards allow players to earn additional support points for engaging in discussion.

2. Family Discussion Card

The Family Discussion Card is provided to participants after game play in order to continue the discussion of menstruation and menstrual hygiene management at home with their children.

The card illustrates discussion topics for parents to review with their children during conversations about menstruation. The card is not intended to prescribe what parents say, but instead remind them of the topics they learned about in the game and the issues are important to discuss with sons and daughters.

It is recommended that the game be further tested and adapted prior to use. This can be done through user testing, which is the process of allowing users to interact with draft versions of materials and learning from their experiences and feedback. Users include parents of adolescent and preadolescent girls and other participants who might be recruited to play the game and Boma Health Workers or others who might facilitate game sessions. Users also include individuals who may not directly interact with the solution materials, but whose needs and perspectives are important – adolescent girls, community leaders, and stakeholders in MHM programming.

Even a very small number of user testing sessions is likely to generate useful feedback. It is recommended to conduct user testing with a small number of participants in 1-2 communities, refine the materials based on their feedback, and re-test. You can use the Guidance for User Testing included in this package of materials as a guide for further refinement.