In my last blog, I would like to emphasize some
WASH success stories as examples of actions that can reach low-income countries’ populations:
Latin
American and the Caribbean
The project WET Foundation in partnership with
UN Habitat, has distributed educational material promoting WASH education n five
countries: Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, El Salvador and Mexico. The main objective
of this project was to bring a change of attitude in the actions of people related
to water resources and the health of communities.
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Source: The Project WET Foundation
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Around 5,000 educators and 100,000 students
received copies of WASH materials focusing on health habits, disease prevention,
water source protection and water conservation.
All materials have been field tested
by local schools in the area of implementation and the Project WET Foundation
is now working on conducting training workshops with educators on teaching
methods and activities. Those educators in turn will train local teachers, who
will introduce the materials to their students.
The Tum Team
– Ethiopia
The UNV volunteer program provides country-level assistance and training on
community-led total sanitation in four regions of Ethiopia: the Gambella
Region, the Oromia Region, the Somali Region and the Southern Nations and Nationalities
and Peoples Region.
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Source: UNV - UN Volunteers Program. An Agnuak man in the Gambella Region is digging his latrine to protect his environment from pollution with open defecation after obtaining training from UNV. |
After these training programs, the
result obtained was a behavior change in health professionals and communities.
They started activities to protect their environments from harmful practices as
well as to apply WASH activities in their villages to get clean living
environments. In addition, all trainees believed in the community’s local
knowledge and were convinced to work with the community to save their
environments; therefore, community members started to dig their latrines by
themselves without any financial and material subsidy. Communities became highly empowered.
Nicaragua Child - Friendly and healthy school
The vision established early on as to what a
Child-Friendly and Healthy School (CFHS) is can be best described by the following
statement: “A Friendly and Healthy School is a place where children and
adolescents build, practice and develop knowledge, abilities and skills for
life, in a healthy, safe, comprehensive, protective environment where
differences and cultural diversity are respected, with the active involvement
of children, adolescents, educators, parents and the community.” (Taken from
UNICEF Nicaragua CFHS Concept Document)
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Source: Child
Friendly Schools – Nicaragua – United Nations
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In early 2001, the Ministries of Health (MINSA)
and Education (MINED) of Nicaragua decided to implement the school hygiene and
environmental sanitation component in 17 schools in strategically selected
municipalities. Based on the results of this initial experience, in June 2011,
MINSA and the MINED signed the Child-Friendly and Healthy School Initiative
agreement, with the support of UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organization
(PAHO/WHO).
During the implementation of this project, sanitary and water facilities were supplied to participating schools along with
teacher training to guarantee the appropriate use of instruments. These actions
were aimed at facilitating changes in children’s behavior related to
sanitation and hygiene.
The main results achieved were:
- Water facilities: The project has improved safe drinking water in comparison with the pre-CFHS situation. Children have continuous access to clean drinking water available at school with no need to carry it for long distances.
- Sanitary facilities: All of the CFHS schools in selected municipalities now have differentiated sanitary facilities, separated by sex and age including urinals and latrines adapted for children with disabilities.
- Hand-washing facilities: None of the schools had hand-washing facilities when the initiative began, nor was there any evidence of soap use. All of the schools have now been equipped with enough sinks to cover the student population, with technological designs that correspond to the availability of water and the height of the students.
- Children’s hygiene practices: An average of 27 per cent of boys and girls washed their hands before eating, according to the initial assessment studies.
- Gender impact: A gender-based approach was included in all activities implemented as a prioritized component. In all schools visited, girls indicated that their opinions about both esthetic design and the separation of bathrooms by sex were taken into consideration when sanitary facilities were being designed and constructed.
