About us
Who we are and what we do
Our Mission
We wish to create a period positive socio-cultural environment for menstruating adolescents and adults in Bhagalpur district to ensure menstrual experiences are free from shame, stigma, misinformation and myths. We aim to encourage personal care habits among menstruators with correct information about menstruation, menstrual health & hygiene management (MHHM).
Our Story
Our founder, Shalini Jha, launched the campaign in December 2019 as part of the Youth Ki Awaaz Action Network Fellowship.
Having suffered due to menstrual unawareness and stigma while growing up, the word 'menstruation' was a triggering word for Shalini. She came across a lot of misinformation and myths while dealing with severe menstrual abnormalities herself. So, she decided to change this reality for other menstruators in her local community who might be suffering similarly due to the culture of silence around menstruation.
Alharh's work has been featured in the Times of India and has also won the Youth ki Awaaz Seed Grant Award 2020.
Story behind the name 'Alharh'
Over 40% women in Bihar, West Bengal and Tripura are married before they turn 18, according to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
When a person starts menstruating, it is not just a simple, biological process but comes with its own socio-cultural implications. During the rituals surrounding menarche, i.e., onset of menstruation which can be as early as 10 years, one can hear songs that describe how a menstruating girl has now become a fertile 'woman' eligible for marriage and must behave so. Their Alharh self, i.e, when they can be playful and frolicsome without any constraints or restrictions, is frowned upon.
[Note : Menstruation is conventionally but wrongly associated with only women.]
'Alharh' is a Hindi word which roughly translates to the state of being carefree and unbridled. Our campaign, Alharh is an attempt to restore the natural, liberated and unrepressed self of the menstruators through normalisation and destigmatization of menstruation.
Our Team
We are a bunch of highly enthusiastic and young volunteers, mostly students from school and college, with varied skills, who want to build a society where menstrual health and wellness is a reality and not an aspiration.
About The Founder
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Shalini Jha
Driven to address intergenerational stigma and structural period poverty, Shalini has built the volunteer team as/of Alharh, and led youth-driven health literacy workshops, community dialogues and product distribution drives reaching thousands of students, youth and women in and around Bhagalpur. In recognition of her campaign leadership, Shalini received the Young Changemaker Award from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi in 2020 and won the Youth Ki Awaaz Seed Grant Award the same year to expand Alharh’s grassroots outreach in Bihar. She is an alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi and Ambedkar University Delhi.