Top 40 under 40: Athieno creates safe spaces for marginalized girls, women

Mary Lucy Athieno 36, is Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) specialist. 

She is also the founder of Eco pads Uganda, a social enterprise that makes reusable sanitary pads which she sells and also donates to girls and women in remote areas.

She is passionate about enabling underprivileged girls to enjoy their freedom during menstruation.

Athieno has supported over two million girls and trained about 7,000 boys, 700 senior men and senior women teachers to make the pads. They are also given menstrual health management training. 

The beneficiaries are spread all over Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

The 36-year-old also uplifts disadvantaged girls and women widowed by HIV/AIDS. 

She works with Kadama Widows Association (KWA) which was formed by a group of widows in Kadama, Eastern Uganda. It supports families affected by HIV/AIDS. 

Athieno helps children and widows to realize and enjoy their full potential.

Meanwhile, her philanthropy work stems from her difficult childhood. She was born and raised in a small village in Busia district. 

Being the eldest girl of eight siblings, she had to grow up fast and take care of her siblings after their parents passed on when she was just 11 years old.

“It was tough for me but I had no one to guide, counsel or appreciate me for working hard,” she remembers.

Because she had no one to tell her about menstrual hygiene; what to expect and do when she got her period, her first experience was embarrassing. She stained her uniform.

“I did not go back to school for the rest of the year because pupils laughed at me,” Athieno recalls.

“This is what many girls face both in rural and urban schools. I decided to make the pads and help them stay in school,” she says.

“We make and sale these pads at low cost to sustain production,” she says adding that in 2015, she was lucky to get seed funding from United States African Development Foundation (USADF) which she used to get better materials, machines and staff.

“Each trainee trains five colleagues at school and in the community,” she explains.

The trainee teachers also pass on the skill to their pupils in the respective schools. 

“I have also mentored 152 young people; one on one. I currently support seven students with fees,” she reveals.

Education background

Athieno attended Buteba primary school in Busia before joining Mbale College for her O and A levels.  

After, she enrolled at Makerere University for a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and organizational psychology under the Makerere female Scholarship Initiative.

She has scooped awards along the way. Among them; USADF impact entrepreneur, Africa youth entrepreneur of the year 2020, President Barak Obama white House Ges Africa rep 2015 and Opportunity desk young person.

What makes her tick? 

Atheino has unique leadership skills. She is also compassionate.

“I try my best to inspire others. I am also told I am kind,” she says.

Career ladder

In 2009, while at campus, Athieno volunteered with KWA where she coordinated the young people at a time when Emma Bunton (former UK Spice girl) was visiting the organization. 

Even after that, she continued working with the organization during her holidays. Over the years she rose through the ranks from youth officer to program manager then executive director.

During her work with the girls, she was touched by the challenges they went through during menstruation or red days as they called it.

“Many would miss school while the few who attended had to brave humiliation that came with staining their uniforms,” she recalls.

Athieno adds that this forced many girls to drop out and get married. These experiences resonated with her childhood plight. 

“I determined to do something to help the girls and those boys who laughed at them,” she says.

Athieno used her volunteering stipend to buy some local materials and a tailoring machine. She brought volunteer widows and girls onboard.

“We started designing different shapes of reusable pads; improving them day by day until we got a better design,” she recollects.

She would distribute the pads to the most vulnerable girls in remote villages. 

Last year, she joined Mifumi where she trains SGBV duty bearers including Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), Police, local councils, Chief Administrative Officers (CAO) and gatekeepers like parents, religious and cultural leaders.

“I ensure to create safe spaces also called Advice centers for women and children, build partnerships and referral linkages,” she says.

Inspiration

Granted 20 minutes to meet anyone in the world, Athieno would choose Oprah Winfrey because she is a strong foresighted woman with an excellent ability to influence. When she talks one sees that she takes charge. 

She is also very determined, kind, and headstrong. These qualities are needed in a world where business is dominated by men.

Elsewhere, Atheino adores TV personality Steve Harvey so much that If she is to come back to life as someone else, she would choose to live as him thanks to his demeanour, humour and ability to influence others.

Prospects

“I will be running a successful company that will change millions of lives of girls and perhaps start another business,” she says.