Friday, 11 June 2021, 5:33 am
More than 1,500 schools and kura to benefit from new initiative
Kimberly-Clark New Zealand is proud to announce it has been named a key partner of the New Zealand Government’s ‘Access to Period Products in Schools’ initiative. Commencing mid-June, students from more than 1,610 schools and kura will have access to free tampons and pads, a key first step to addressing period poverty in New Zealand.
UBK Period Products
Kimberly-Clark is the manufacturer of New Zealand’s leading period care brand, U by Kotex. In 2020, the company participated in the Government’s Waikato trial of free period products in 15 schools and kura in the Waikato region, specifically supporting Fraser High School. In the same year, the company publicly committed to alleviating period poverty for 500,000 people across New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific, as well as educating five million people to fight menstrual stigma.
Schools which had opted into the programme now needed to place orders for products, and those which had not yet opted into the programme could still do so, Tinetti said. The Ministry of Education held a competitive tender process to choose the suppliers, and had now signed contracts with four. Three of them are New Zealand brands. Involved in the first phase of the nationwide roll-out were Organic Initiative (Oi), The Warehouse Group, Crimson Organic and Kimberly-Clark (U By Kotex).
ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff
Minister Jan Tinetti, a former Tauranga school principal, has seen firsthand how a scheme like this will help students. (File photo)