LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF MODULE ‘C’

1. LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF MODULE ‘C’ BY BERNEDETTE KAFARI NORTHERN REGIONAL SHEP COORDINATOR COCONUT GROOVE HOTEL ACCRA 29TH JULY 2010

2. OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION • BACKGROUND • OBJECTIVES • MAIN FOCUS AREAS • KEY LESSONS • SUCCESSES • CHALLENGES • POST STUDY TOUR ACHIEVEMENTS • WAY FORWARD

3. BACKGROUND • As part of UNICEF’S platform for experience sharing, a 10 day interactive meeting was organized in India for people of varied backgrounds to exchange ideas on Water and Sanitation. • 56 Participants representing 18 countries across the world took part in the conference.

4. BACKGROUND The Countries represented for Module ‘C’ included: • Afghanistan • Bhutan • Bangladesh • Cambodia • Djibouti • Ghana • Kenya • Rwanda • Zambia

5. A SECTION OF THE PARTICIPANTS

6. The Practical Field visits took place in Lalitpur – Uttar Pradesh and Dibrugarh – Assam, both in India.

7. OBJECTIVES • To gain insights in school and community linkages for sustainable management • To observe the child friendly school sanitation approaches in Schools – Technology and its application

8. OBJECTIVES • To learn the process for promoting hand- washing with soap in schools. • To learn about the participation of children in promoting Hygiene and Sanitation through children’s Cabinets/ Health and Hygiene Clubs and their roles in disseminating Hygiene behaviours in the communities.

9. MAIN FOCUS OF MODULE • Implementation Strategies • Institutional Arrangements/ Inter – Sectoral Coordination • Programme Components • Child Participation • Child friendly school sanitation Approaches • Hygiene campaigns/ promotion in schools • Menstrual hygiene management • Hygiene and Sanitation in Tea gardens.

10. ACTIVITIES • Practical interactive field visits were carried out to schools. Interactions were with school children, teachers, NGO partners working at the State and the District level and finally Child Cabinets. • Debriefing meetings were held with each State and District level Authorities after the 3 day period of learning in each state/ District. In all, 4 Districts were visited.

11. KEY LEARNINGS • LALITPUR 14th – 17th April 2010. -It is located in the North Western part of India. -81% of the communities are Rural settlements. -The main occupation of the people is farming. -75% of the people live below the poverty line of less than 1 dollar.

12. KEY LEARNINGS • LALITPUR Contd • Visited 2 primary schools and 2 JHS • [A] – Institutional Arrangements: Clear roles and responsibilities for central government, state governments, total sanitation committees at the District with the District Magistrate as the Chairperson, UNICEF, education Schools etc.

13. KEY LEARNINGS -Convergence of Funds (State and Central government funds and even village funds).

14. KEY LEARNINGS • [B] – Child Participation and Child friendly school sanitation Approaches: -Engagement of Children in deciding Facilities -Child cabinet is made up of the President and his/her vice, Prime Minister and his/her deputy and Ministers and their deputies eg Health, Environment, Sports etc. -Child Cabinets used for inspection of colleagues on Hygiene behaviours eg. Fingernails, hair, uniform, teeth and handwashing.

15. Hand washing facilities and soap available

16. KEY LEARNINGS • Use of local construction materials eg. Local clay pot for storage of water, long handle cups for communal use in fetching water to avoid contamination.

17. KEY LEARNINGS • Construction of an incinerator attached to adolescent girls toilet for safe disposal of used sanitary pads. • Construction of innovative hand washing facility.

18. KEY LEARNINGS -Application of Technology for innovative school Wash – eg force lift pumps, ie lift water from boreholes to overhead Tank through hand pumping for storage in flushing school toilets. -Use of mirrors for children to reflect on their hygiene status. -Mena Manch - Radio Episodes on different themes.

19. KEY LEARNINGS -Holistic approach to look at food hygiene during mid day meals. -Activity based hygiene education (Quiz, Games-Ludo, etc.) -Hygiene promotion through slogan, music, songs, dance, poetry. -Bright wall paintings with key hygiene messages and posters.

20. Children supported to wash their hands for their mid day meals.

21. KEY LEARNINGS -community involvement in hygiene promotion and packaging of hygiene messages in local context. -Monitoring board for key hygiene behavior.

22. KEY LEARNINGS • DIBRUGARH-ASSAM 18th – 21st April 2010. • Visited 5 schools (1 nursery, 2 primary and 2 middle schools). -Assam is the Largest state of Eastern India. -Notably the Assam branch of the Indian Tea. -60% of their income is generated from the Tea village/ gardens. -90% of the population in this area live below the Poverty Line of 1 dollar a day.

23. THE TEA VILLAGE/ GARDENS OF ASSAM

24. KEY LEARNINGS -Sanitation Pledge recited at school Assembly each morning as a campaign for Hygiene and Sanitation Promotion. -The use of the Child Cabinet – Appointment of Sanitation committees responsible for Sanitation and Hygiene in classrooms and school compound, and personal hygiene of peers. -Implementation of Hygiene and Sanitation in school curriculum i.e. – classroom based hygiene education. -Activity-based hygiene promotion (the last period is devoted everyday for activity-based hygiene promotion e.g. reading story books on hygiene, games, drill etc).

25. Children playing sanitation game

26. KEY LEARNINGS -Teachers were trained as regards the use of the games, drills, storybooks etc and general hygiene promotions in schools. -Hygiene education is included in the Teacher Training curriculum. -Use of twin leaching pits – (makes it easy to empty pits) -The use of locally available materials to construct household toilets. Inclusive Toilets (household sanitation in the labour lines

27. SUCCESSES -There is proper maintenance of household toilets. -All key stakeholders (Government, Parents, teachers and children) showed very high interest and played their roles effectively. -Schools have regular supply of water without the use of machines. -Positive Influence trickles to community from school through the children.

28. SUCCESSES -Leadership positions used to promote hygiene in schools builds confidence in children and prepares them for future leadership. -Availability of latrines in every household especially in the tea village is an achievement that checks open defecation.

29. CHALLENGES -Inadequate ratio of the Toilets to the Children. -Lack of space within the school compound for other facilities. -Proximity of latrines to shallow pumps. -Unsafe type of urinals adopted for both girls and boys. -Absenteeism by children is a big challenge. -Baseline data on disease prevalence was Missing -Use of same towels for all children. -Availability of disinfected water. -No concrete sustainability plan

30. WAY FORWARD FOR INDIA • Exchange programme between different states. • Ratio of the latrines in schools. • water filters in the schools. • Standardization of force lift pumps. • Standard separate urinals for boys and girls. • Hygiene promotion should move simultaneously with provision of facilities.

31. GOOD PRACTICES • PHAST, Bottom Up Planning, Annual WASH in school Development plan- Integrated approach (Cambodia, Zambia, Afghanistan, Kenya & Ghana). • Hygiene Corner, School based health coordinator (Bangladesh, Rwanda, Ghana). • Annual WASH in schools Monitoring package-Annual Education statistics (Bhutan).

32. ACHIEVEMENTS AFTER CONFERENCE • A meeting was held with all 20 District coordinators on 12th May 2010 at CWSA conference hall where key learning experiences were shared. Those that can be adopted into our system were identified and encouraged to implement. • On May 20, another meeting was organized at the CRS conference hall with the regional SHEP Committee (stakeholders) to discuss key learning issues and implementation strategies.

33. ACHIEVEMENTS AFTER STUDY TOUR • 27th May- 8th July, (2 days for each District) routine monitoring visits were carried out in the 10 I-WASH districts where learning experiences were integrated to the checklist.

34. NUMBER OF SCHOOLS VISITED BY DISTRICTS

35. SPECIFIC AREAS OF IMPLEMENTATION • Child friendly learning environment – using bright colours to write sanitation messages in the school environment. • Using local materials to construct a permanent hand washing facility and an incinerator attached to adolescent girls’ toilets for safe disposal of used sanitary pads. • Sanitation and hygiene campaigns through radio (North Star) • Using Child Cabinets to promote sanitation and hygiene in schools.

36. WAY FORWARD - GHANA • Training workshop for all 20 SHEP coordinators necessary to improve their capacity and speed up implementation of new learning. • Translation of vital materials from Indi to English for a better understanding by the Ghanaian SHEP coordinators and schools. • There is the need for stronger political will by government and commitment by parents/community members and teachers.

37. WAY FORWARD - GHANA • Adequate sanitation kits developed for all SHEP schools. • Curriculum modification for Teacher Training and School periods to include Sanitation and Hygiene Education. • There is the need for government and management of schools to provide adequate Hygiene and gender-friendly and user-friendly Sanitation facilities in schools.

38. THANK YOU