School Sanitation Project

The hygiene and sanitation conditions at most schools in Njombe, Tanzania, are very poor. What latrines they have were self-constructed, with little knowledge of proper latrine construction; some of the schools have no toilet facilities at all. The resulting conditions often cause students to fall sick and miss classes. Improving water and sanitation conditions at the schools will give the children a safer, healthier environment, allowing them to focus on their studies. And that will lead to increased performance in school, leading to better educated young adults.

Goals overview

Three sanitation systems consisting of 10 latrine units (5 for boys, 5 for girls) with proper handwashing facilities will be built. 1621 school children (378 in Njoomlole, 565 in Wangama, 678 in Nyambogo) will be trained in personal hygiene and have improved access to water and sanitation for 10 years.

Current status

At present the 3 primary schools cope with very poor or non-existent toilet facilities (on the order of fewer than 6 toilets for over 1000 students). The school administration and parent committees recognize the need for improvement, but lack the financial means to purchase the necessary materials, such as cement, roofsheets and latrine slabs.

Project plan

The project consists of the following phases:
1) Election of water and sanitation ("watsan") committee members from the local community. These members will be responsible for maintaining the facilites.
2) Collection of locally available materials (stones, sand, gravel) by community members. These raw materials will be used to construct the sanitation facilities.
3) Digging of the foundation and latrine holes.
4) Construction of latrine slabs and buildings.
5) Class lessons for increasing awareness of good hygiene. For example, children will learn how diseases such as diarrhoea are transmitted in a game which begins with one child putting her hand in a bag of flour. This child then shakes hands with 5 other children, who in turn shake hands with 5 children; the transmission of the flour from hand to hand graphically illustrates how disease is spread.
6) Evaluation and final reporting.

Involving a community in its own betterment is a key factor to sustainable change. Sustainability of this project is ensured through co-funding by the community, and the formation of a sanitation ("watsan") committee. The community will provide all the local materials needed for the construction of the latrines, and do part of the construction. SHIPO will train the community-elected watsan committee on latrine maintenance.