Promoting Sanitation and Hygiene

This project is part of the Simavi School Sanitation Programme which consists of more than 30 school sanitation projects in 9 countries. Simavi and its partner organisations have made efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality by preventing diseases. Access to safe drinking water as well as awareness raising on sanitation and hygiene practices have been identified as key to combating this. Investing in school sanitation and hygiene education is in essence an investment in the future.

Current status

Bajhang district is one of the most remote and socially deprived districts. 70 % the children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition. The per capita income is only US$152 per year. The sanitation coverage in the district is only 10%.
The project site is 250 km north of Dhangadi. Based on discussions with local people, commitment expressed by the schools, 8 schools (2270 pupils) in Banjh and Bhamchowr Village Development Committees have been selected. Of the 8 schools, 4 do not have any toilets and 4 have basic pit latrines which are not sufficient. None have proper hand washing facilities.

School children will be the focal point of the project. The strategy will be to mobilize children to form Child Clubs, empower them and develop them as role models and then use child-to-child, child-to-family and child-to-community approach to promote sanitation and hygiene behaviour. For each school, toilets will be designed based on standard designs (double pit pour flush toilets and urinals) as well as local inputs provided by students and teachers. The toilets will have separate units for boys and girls and proper hand washing facilities. The project will prepare attractive and informative teaching aide/IEC materials and conduct training to build local capacity on sanitation promotion and hygiene.

Improving sanitation and hygiene practices in schools and surrounding communities through the 'child-to-child' and 'child-to-community' approaches, and improving facilities.

The project will follow the approach established by the SSHE programme that is being implemented by the Government of Nepal with support of UNICEF in 15 districts as this approach has been quite successful and it has been endorsed by the government. School children will be the focal point of the project. The strategy will be to mobilize children to form Child Clubs, empower them and develop them as role models and then use child-to-child, child-to-family and child-to-community approach to promote sanitation and hygiene behaviour. After participatory planning child friendly toilets will be constructed. The facilities will be owned by the schools. The toilets will have twin pits so that one can be emptied while the other is being used. The project will prepare attractive and informative teaching aide/IEC materials and conduct training to the teachers, the students and the surrounding local communities to build local capacity. In order to ensure proper operation and maintenance of the sanitation facilities and regular clean up of the class rooms and school compound, the child club members will be divided into groups and given the responsibility for regular clean up and maintenance. An Operation and Maintenance Fund will also be set up in each school for buying items like soap and doing regular maintenance.