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Catalyst of Change

Catalyst of Change

Supporting a vibrant civil society in Europe

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Pe Stop

pestop.org
Call 1
Call 3
Women's Rights
Romania

Pe Stop works to reduce period poverty in Romania and ensure that vulnerable girls and women have access to menstrual hygiene products and information. Since its founding in January 2018, the organisation has grown from distributing a few packages at Bucharest’s North Railway Station to supporting around 1600 beneficiaries monthly across urban and rural areas. Pe Stop distributes hygiene packages, organises courses on body, hygiene, consent, and advocates for laws that guarantee access to menstrual products. Pe Stop combats social exclusion, protects reproductive health, and empowers women to manage menstruation safely and with dignity.

About the Project

The Network of Dignity – A Support and Activation Network for Informal Leaders of Local Communities

The Network of Dignity project addressed menstrual poverty in Romania, which affects around one million girls and women, by mobilizing motivated individuals who wanted to support their communities. Its goal was to build and equip a decentralized volunteer network to distribute menstrual products and provide education on menstruation and hygiene, protecting women’s rights to dignity and health. Pe Stop successfully attracted 29 new volunteers across ten counties by the end of the Catalyst of Change project, and the network has now expanded to 25 counties nationwide. Throughout the project, Pe Stop organized five online workshops on topics such as fundraising, menstrual hygiene, and consent, alongside regular volunteer meetings.

 

With the help of this grant, we were able to turn our small grassroots organisation in Bucharest, to get in national territory, in very remote areas, in very small towns, in villages, in communities that not only that they don’t have access to knowledge and information, but they don’t have access to menstrual health, to menstrual products.

-Pe Stop, about their experience with the grant.

Communication Outputs

Media Coverage

Pe Stop and their Network of Dignity Project received coverage in national newspapers and online magazines:

România are prima rețea națională de suport împotriva sărăciei menstruale – Stiripesurse

Pe Stop și Always, un brand P&G, pun România pe hartă privind lupta activă împotriva sărăciei menstruale – nONGuvernamental

Pe Stop și Always, un brand P&G, pun România pe hartă alături de țări precum Spania și Scoția: echipe din 15 județe din țară luptă activ împotriva sărăciei menstruale – Romania Pozitiva

Rețeaua Demnității, prima rețea națională de suport împotriva sărăciei menstruale din România | The Woman Magazine

Rețeaua Demnității Archives | The Woman Magazine

Project Communications

This section presents Pe Stop’s own communications as part of the Catalyst project. Pe Stop made project activities known through their social media channels, with a total of 13 Instagram posts and 16 Facebook posts.

Project Page

 

This grant helped us to actually build the community and to build a network. At the end of the project with NHC, we managed to scale up to 21 teams in 15 counties. What was really impactful was the fact that it grew the visibility and the awareness of the cause.

-Pe Stop, about their experience with the Catalyst of Change grant.

Call 3

About the Project

No Shame. No Taboos. Just Dignity.

In Romania, period poverty and menstrual stigma remain widespread, affecting girls’ school attendance and well-being and limiting access to hygiene products, education, and care. Pe Stop’s second Catalyst project promotes open dialogue and frames menstruation as an issue of gender rights and health equity through cultural activities. At this stage, Pe Stop launched the project with an event that featured a panel with international and local speakers, a screening of the film Impure, and an accompanying exhibition. It also launched national research on menstrual experiences. Additionally, Pe Stop is running an ongoing online campaign and outreach to raise awareness and increase public visibility. In the second half of the project, the organisation will hold a socio-cultural event for Women’s History Month with the goal of raising awareness and promoting dialogue.

Project Communications

Project Communications

As part of Pe Stop’s ongoing campaign, they promote project activities across social media chanells:

Instagram Post 1

 

Funded by the European Union

name

Catalyst of Change: Protecting the Union values by supporting a resilient, engaged and vocal civil society for the promotion of women’s rights, environmental justice and anti-corruption

partner

European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting (ECNL)

duration

1 January 2023- 31 December 2026

budget

3,411.982 EUR

Rights-Based Justice

Human Rights Defence

Integrity and Accountability