WASH in Schools
The Parma Ministerial
Declaration for WASH in
schools in EECCA region
Sascha Gabizon, Executive Director, WECF
Margriet Samwel, Coordinator Water Programme, WECF
Content:
• Sanitation in EECCA region
• Parma Ministerial Declaration
• Lessons from 10-country School
Sanitation program
• Ideas for implementing Parma
declaration
est. 30 million people do not have safe
sanitation in EU alone, how many in EECCA?
Uzbekistan
Armenia
Ukraine
School toilets rural areas:
• Far away, smelly, insects
• Covered in excreta
• No hand-washing
• No privacy, no waste-bins
• Groundwater pollution
Current Situation School Sanitation
in EECCA region
• Many schools build without toilets
• Hardware often unsustainable
• Software not provided
“shit smeared over the walls”
“cleaning materials ‘reused’”
“girls harassed on way to toilet”
“girls ‘keep it up’ all day”
“blather/urinary track infections”
• Sanitation in EECCA region
• Parma Ministerial Declaration
• Lessons from 10-country School
Sanitation program
• Ideas for implementing Parma
declaration
Parma Declaration on Environment
and Health
Ministerial declaration endorsed by 53
Member States attending the 5th
Ministerial Conference on Environment
and Health in Parma, Italy on 10-12
March 2010.
Consist of: 1) Ministerial Declaration
and 2) Commitment to Act
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_fil
e/0011/78608/E93618.pdf
Parma Declaration on Environment
and Health
Through the declaration the
participating governments agreed to
implement national programmes to
provide equal opportunities to each
child by 2020 by ensuring access to
safe water and sanitation,
opportunities for physical activity and a
healthy diet, improved air quality and
an environment free of toxic chemicals
Parma Ministerial Declaration
3.We are committed to act on the key
environment and health challenges of
our time. These include:(b)the health
risks to children and other vulnerable
groups posed by poor environmental,
working and living conditions
(especially the lack of water and
sanitation)
Parma Ministerial Declaration
4.We will address these challenges by
setting up or strengthening existing
mechanisms or structures that can
ensure effective implementation,
promote local actions and ensure
active participation
Parma Ministerial Declaration
5.We will intensify efforts to develop,
improve and implement health and
environmental legislation
Parma Ministerial Declaration
5.We will intensify efforts to develop,
improve and implement health and
environmental legislation
6.We will ensure that youth
participation is facilitated
Parma Ministerial Declaration
8. We encourage international
stakeholders, including international
financial institutions, and the European
Commission to offer further scientific,
political, technical and financial
assistance
Parma Ministerial Declaration
10.We endorse and will implement the
„Commitment to act“ and the goals and
targets included therein. That
document is an integral part of this
Declaration.
Parma Commitment to Act
A. Protecting children’s health
1.We reconfirm our commitment to prioritized
actions under the regional priority goals
(RPGs) in the Children’s Environment and
Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) as
indicated below. We will strive to attain the
targets in the RPGs as set out below.
Regional Priority Goal 1: Ensuring public
health by improving access to safe water
and sanitation
Parma Commitment to Act
A. Protecting children’s health
1. ii.We will strive to provide each child
with access to safe water and
sanitation in homes, child care centres,
kindergartens, schools, health care
institutions and public recreational
water settings by 2020, and to
revitalize hygiene practices.
• Sanitation in EECCA region
• Parma Ministerial Declaration
• Lessons from 10-country School
Sanitation program
• Ideas for implementing Parma
declaration
Lessons Learned from 10-country
WECF sanitation program
“Soviets made pit latrines obligatory in the
1930s - in some cases punished with prison”
50 sustainable school toilet-buildings
in 10 countries since 2003
• 16.000 pupils and teachers using WECF school-toilets
• Total direct cost per user: 37 euro (average)
All 50 school toilet buildings use
Dry Urine Diversion Systems
Because in target villages:
• No central water supply to flush
• No central sewage system
Benefits:
• More hygienic
• No smell - can be indoor (climate!)
• Reuse of nutrients
• Drinking water source protection
Best Practices Hardware
• Indoor toilets where-ever possible
• Separate rooms for boys and girls
• Special teenage girls facilities (depends on
culture) for girls during menstruation period
• Privacy: doors can be closed/locked
• Squatting slaps - not sitting seats (hygiene)
• Proper smell prevention
• Hand wash basin and simple grey water treatment
• High quality material for long term sustainability
• Big urine tanks for 6 months storage time (hygiene)
• Footprint near the squatting slab so children know
where to stand.
First outdoor UDD school Toilet for
200 pupils in Romania : 8 years in
use, total cost € 6000
Trainings
Construction
Urine storage
First indoor school toilet for 350
pupils + teachers in Armenia: €20,000
Squatting toilet with urine
diversion
Wash basins and the toilet
care-taker
Waterless urinals at
different heights
Urine storage
tanks in the
basement
Built by AWHHW,
Quelque Chose
architects and TUHH
More best practices + smell prevention
More best practices + re-use
Best Practices ‘Software’
• Agree in advance on responsibilities and financial
contribution of the school
• Employing a “care-taker” is key
• Obtain in advance approvals needed (authorities
for education, architecture, health, environment,
emergency/utilities, fire, electricity)
• Hygiene education (PHAST*) for pupils, teachers
and parents
• Usage, operation and maintenance of facilities
trainings for pupils, teachers and personnel
• “how to...” educational posters in the toilet
• Training on the re-use of nutrients (or energy)
* Participatory Health And Sanitation Transformation (WHO)
Check-list school MoU
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
Who cleans the toilet?
Who collects ash/saw dust for the toilet?
Who checks the toilet on technical defects?
Who is responsible for operation and
maintenance?
What to do when something is broken?
How should the O&M be financed?
Who develops an education strategy?
How will awareness be created among the
school children?
How can the school guarantee that the toilet will
be properly used?
WECF Impact Assessment
First of its kind, gives an indication
3 step methodology:
• Questionnaire for female and male pupils
31 (29 boys) questions related to
– Acceptance - Dignity - Gender
– Health - Absenteeism - Menstruation (girls only)
• Absenteeism “class book” survey
• Focus group discussion (only with pupils, no teachers present)
Sample
• 10 schools with UDD toilets: total 361 pupils
• 8 reference schools with pit latrine: total 245 pupils
• 5 countries: Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan
Absenteeism Survey - maybe an
indication
Pupils Focus Group Discussions
some preliminary results
On new toilets:
• All children are very satisfied about new toilets because
of greater comfort (clean, warm, no smell, handwashing facilities, short distance etc.)
• Especially girls experience benefits because of
greater privacy and washing facilities
On pit latrines:
• Especially girls avoid using the pit latrines
• In Central Asia girls skipped school during their
menstruation period because of the bad pit latrine
• In Central Asia children went to home during classes to
go the toilet because of the bad pit latrine
• In all countries some girls use latrines during classes to
have more privacy
• School Sanitation: Global Priority
• Lessons from 10-country program
– Hardware: best and worst practices
– Software: best and worst practices
• Ideas for 5 yr drive
School Sanitation Should be a global Priority
School sanitation:
• does not count for Millennium Dev Goals
• excluded from JMP
• is core responsibility of government
• is essential for girls school attendance
• “discriminating” factor for girls
• needs innovative financial mechanisms
• can be a win-win deal
• should be policy priority
General reflections on School
Sanitation - ‘Hardware’
• Choice of ‘hardware’ does matter
• Indoor toilets with re-use systems are good
solution for non-piped areas
• Need to be added to national codes (construction,
hygiene, agriculture)
• Not more expensive then VIP pit-latrines
• Potential income generation from re-use, energy can cover maintenance costs
• Potentially saves costs drinking water treatment
General Recommendations School
Sanitation - ‘Software’
• No ‘hardware’ works without ‘software’
• Hygiene needs to be taught (also in EU)
• Cleaning of toilets is not a habit amongst latrine
users: needs to be learned
• Incentives and education for pupils against
vandalism
• Teenage girls need to feel ‘safe’ regarding
menstruation - waste baskets, doors that lock, own
toilets
• Inclusive sanitation (e.g. children with disabilities)
• Pupils should feel ownership, know its their right
Link Parma Implementation and 5 yr
Sustainable Sanitation Drive
• Link to implementation of UN GA 2010
resolution “human right to water and
sanitation”
• Call on all countries to set targets for
achieving 100% safe school sanitation
• Define “sustainable” sanitation (5 SuSanA
criteria)
• Establish principle: “no toilet - no school”
• Post-2015 inclusion of public sanitation in
MDGs
• WASH in Schools: focus of 1 of the 5 years!
5 Yr Drive - Financing School
Sanitation
• Funding priority from public budget
• “Total sanitation” incentive approach does not
work for public buildings
• Global School Sanitation Fund (e.g. DK,
EBRD)
• Aim:
• pilots in each country - examples convince
• All schools in a few countries (Moldova, Lesotho)
• Incentives for partnerships including civil
society
• Communicate the successes
Our plans: extend Guidelines Best
Practices School Sanitation ?
• Guidelines with best practices for
school sanitation hardware and
software
– Baseline of current school
sanitation (e.g. Moldova)
– Comparison of different hardware
options
– Capacity building tools for re-use
sanitation systems
– Educational and training tools on
hygiene, use, maintenance
• Possible partners....
Other areas ?
Draw on work done within PWH
• Capacity building online tool on small scale
sanitation (with Germany and Czech republic)
• Guidelines on public participation in sanitation
decision making (with Romania)
• Guidelines on equitable access (with France)
Thank You