Change the Cycle
The 10th annual GPPN Conference, hosted by the Sciences Po School of Public Affairs, featured students' solution oriented ideas and prototypes to address public policy challenges identified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To participate, each GPPN member school carefully selected up to five student teams to present their projects and compete for the GPPN prize. The result: 32 teams from around the world met in Paris to showcase their ideas on how to solve some of the most pressing global challenges of today.
Women and girls menstruate. This provides markets with an opportunity to fulfill a basic need for 49.5% of the world’s population. We developed a holistic approach that provides menstrual education for women and girls; supports the development of women-led micro-enterprises by supplying menstrual products; and ensures access to safe disposal methods at the community level in rural Kenya. Our model will establish women-led micro-enterprises that supply communities with affordable sanitary pads. Women will be provided machines, based on a design by an Indian entrepreneur, that produce sanitary pads for a low cost. This will promote sustainable economic growth, while supplying an affordable product to women. It will also build trust and support in the community, which we will reinforce with education on the use and disposal of pads. Changing the Cycle.
Meet the team
Constanza I. Robles Fumarola, born in Paris in 1992, is half Spanish, half Italian. She attended school in Madrid, Moscow, Islamabad and Boston. After which she joined the University of Sussex to undertake a degree in International Relations and Development Studies. Since then, she has worked in Private Sector Partnerships at the UN FAO, and has managed projects in Afghanistan and Senegal with SEM Fund and GERES (respectively) that had as an objective to support market-based solutions to energy poverty. She is currently undertaking an MPA at the London School of Economics and was awarded a scholarship from La Caixa Foundation.
Hollie Lippert received her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Economics from Marquette University (USA) with highest honours (Summa Cum Laude). Before beginning a MPA at London School of Economics in fall 2016, she amassed over five years of work experience across diverse industries and locations. Most notably, she spent the past three years throughout East Africa working at One Acre Fund, an agricultural NGO. Her professional interests centre on social enterprise and financially sustainable development, particularly within agriculture and the East African region.When not attending LSE courses, she returns to her home base of Nairobi, Kenya.
Lauren Cuscuna is an MPA candidate at The London School of Economics and Political Science focusing on Public and Economic Policy. Before moving to London she worked with an NGO in Uganda to establish a social enterprise in a national park and implement other development projects for economic development, women’s empowerment, healthcare and education. Previous to that she taught English in Hong Kong where she also volunteered with refugees for services to ease integration into a new society. She also participated in social development projects in New York City where she earned her undergrad and later worked in marketing an design.
Interested in learning more about the GPPN programs and degrees? Find out here!
