Mandy Moore Joins Noted Philanthropist Indrani Goradia and PSI to Improve the Health And Rights of Girls and Women in India

Actress, singer/songwriter and PSI Global Ambassador Mandy Moore meets with a group of women in Bihar, India, who took out a loan together to build a toilet for their community. Before the toilet, many women had been shamed and verbally harassed when relieving themselves in nearby fields.

Singer, songwriter, and actress Mandy Moore is teaming up with Population Services International (PSI) and noted philanthropist Indrani Goradia in India from Sept. 7-11, 2015 to help show how improving health initiatives in India are improving the lives of girls and women, and building stronger families, communities, the country and its economy.

Actress, singer/songwriter and PSI Global Ambassador Mandy Moore traveled to Bihar, India to discuss options for sanitation with women and their families. Less than 1 in 3 people in Bihar have access to sanitation. PSI is helping to facilitate microfinance loans and coordinated service delivery to bring dignity and safety to those seeking a toilet.

Moore is noted global advocate for girls and women and is the global ambassador forPopulation Services International (PSI), a nonprofit health organization that makes it easier for people to live healthier lives and plan the families they desire through their work in 65 countries.

In Masnapur Village in Bihar, India, Sushma’s 12-year-old daughter Shula tells actress, singer/songwriter and PSI Global Ambassador Mandy Moore that the best thing about having a toilet is being able to lock the door. Girls and women suffer harassment, and often worse, when they relieve themselves openly in nearby fields, they expose themselves and their communities to health issues. PSI offers multiple types and financing for individuals seeking to own a toilet.

Goradia is the founder of Indrani’s Light Foundation, which counsels and advocates for genderbased violence survivors, as well as being a survivor herself.

A farm worker from India’s Ravidas community at Ganjtola, Sanita Das, uses the first toilet ever in her village, put there as part of a PSI pilot program helping to build 16,000 toilets. Men would sometimes throw stones at her and other women when they would relieve themselves in the field and says she’d rather be paid with a toilet than rupees, though she currently labors in exchange for rice.

During her trip, Moore will visit sanitation projects in the Indian state of Bihar, speaking with women who have been threatened, shamed or even assaulted because they lacked access to a toilet. She will also visit a number of area hospitals in Uttar Pradesh that are making it possible for India to reach its goal of providing 20 million women with access to a variety of high quality contraceptive and health services by 2020. Additionally, Moore will speak with women who have benefitted from recent initiatives to help screen for cervical cancer – a noncommunicable disease that’s responsible for approximately 270,000 deaths worldwide, mostly in developing countries.

Sushma’s husband came across their 5th grade daughter, Shalu, relieving herself in someone else’s field one day in India’s Masnapur Village. His own shame and hearing the verbal abuse from others motivated him to purchase a toilet through PSI’s social enterprise program responsible for funding and building more than 16,000 toilets.

Moore and Goradia will also speak with domestic violence survivors in Delhi who have benefitted from PSI’s investment in strengthening services and advocacy. In addition to adding her own expertise from her work, Goradia has contributed as a philanthropist to PSI’s genderbased violence program, which seeks to engage men and boys, change negative gender norms, strengthen services for survivors, and create a favorable legal and policy environment to protect women and girls.

Preeti, a married, mother of two from Masnapur Village in India, leads actress,singer/songwriter and PSI Global Ambassador Mandy Moore to the toilet she.pressed her husband and his family to purchase. PSI has helped build and finance more than 16,000 toilets in the Bihar region of India..

Moore and Goradia’s trip can be followed on psiimpact.com/mandy-moore-indrani-goradiaindia/

A woman from Daniawan in Bihar, India, Anita Devi, says she joined several other women in her town to purchase a toilet because “it gives dignity and respect to girls.” PSI launched a social enterprise in the region to help fund and build more than 16,000 toilets.