Identifying salient factors that influence the diffusion of low-cost sanitary products made by the small-scale production units in India: A social innovation study

Abstract

Menstruation is a natural and healthy monthly phenomenon for women. However, many women across India struggle with it. Due to a number of barriers, these women are not able to use sanitary products resulting in a risk of contracting reproductive tract infections (RTIs), also their self-esteem and self-confidence also gets affected. This has consequences: girls dropping out of school, women quitting work, reluctance to be part of social events and the infections leading to severe health related complications to name a few. Hence, social entrepreneurs in the field of menstrual hygiene management decided to address this social problem by establishing small-scale production units that make low-cost sanitary products and run awareness campaigns. However, the diffusion of these low-cost sanitary products remains very low. Therefore, raising questions about the sustainability of these small-scale production units that have cropped up across India. Thus, in this research, a conceptual framework is built to help understand the social innovation (SI) process of making and selling low-cost sanitary products, and clearly identify the salient factors that influence the diffusion of these sanitary products made by the small-scale production units for this complex market. Eight salient factors were identified that influenced the diffusion of low-cost sanitary products among women in India: relative advantage, complementary product & services, network & interpersonal ties, promotion platforms, intermediaries, social structure, political factors, cultural & psychological factors. Based on these findings, it led to five policy recommendations and three recommendations to the social enterprises. The policy recommendations are: i. Changes to GST exemption on sanitary products. ii. Central action committee to ensure consensus in promotion of sanitary products. iii. Revision in existing standards for sanitary products. iv. Sanitary waste management. v. Programming for menstrual health programs. While, the recommendations to the small-scale production units are: i Develop environment friendly sanitary products with more size and colour variations. ii. To improve the accessibility of the sanitary products. iii. To collaborate with other actors to build and run awareness programs.