Report on
Provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Facilities
in Schools in Early Recovery Areas (District Swat)
September 2010
Human Resource Development Society (HRDS) House # 117, Street# 46, Sector # I-8/2, Islamabad
Tel # 051-4433752, Fax # 051-4433754 Email# [email protected]
www.hrdsociety.org.pk
2
Report On
Provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Facilities in Schools in Early Recovery Areas (District Swat)
WATER, ENVIRONMENT AND SANITATION PROGRAMME
May -September 2010
3
Acknowledgements
By the Grace of Almighty ALLAH who enable us to serve the community and school going innocent children by providing water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools and complete this assignment in close coordination and collaboration of all stakeholders. I would like to pay my gratitude to all the organizations, community members, schools and individuals who have participated and supported this school WES program.
• UNICEF-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa • The Elementary & Secondary Education Khyber Pakhtunkhwa • District Government Swat
I feel honored & pleasured by thanking to Mr. Irshad Karem (Chief Provincial Officer UNICEF), Ms. Sabahat Ambreen (WES Officer, UNICEF), Mr. Shakaib Jan WES officer UNICEF Peshawar,Mr.Raj Muhammad EDO E & SE Swat. I am also thankful to all the members of field teams for their cooperation and hard work with honesty which enable us to accomplish this huge assignment well in time.
Our special gratitude is to Mr. Tariq Jan Programme Coordinator, Khyber Pakhtonkhwa, Mr. Badashaha Khan Field Coordinator Swat and Mr. Shafqat Ali Programme Manager HRDS for supervision, providing the technical assistance to the field teams, and development of templates and report writing. I am thankful to Mr. Qasim Aziz and Mr. Muhammad Azhar Malik for managing the financial and administrative aspects of the project and also to all programs staff members for their valuable assistance and moral support
Aftab Ahmed Executive Director HRDS
4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Water and environment sanitation is a challenging problems in Pakistan and it is estimated that around 1.5 million children under five years of age die of diarrhea every year around the world due to inadequate and unsafe water, poor sanitation and insufficient attention to hygiene behaviors According to an estimate water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases cost Pakistan’s economy about Rs112 billion per year, over Rs300 million, a day in terms of health cost and lost earnings. Out of this the cost associated with diarrheal diseases alone is estimated around 55-80 billon rupees per year. Poor sanitation and hygiene practices are also proving the barrier against tackling polio, as the virus has been found to be transmitted through feces of infected people then passed to others especially in situations of poor hygiene. (MoE, Govt. of Pakistan) Lack of adequate drinking water and sanitation facilities in schools is one of the contributing factors for low enrolment and high drop out of girls from schools in Pakistan.
In district swat 60 Government primary and middle schools (both male & female) were selected for the provision of WES facilities with financial assistance of UNICEF.
Keeping the above situation in front, UNICEF has decided to tackle the problems and launch school WES project in two union councils named UC Islampur and Shalpin of district swat through the project implementing partner named Human Resource Development Society (HRDS) a non governmental organization.
A questionnaire was used for the collection of data to layout the WASH facilities in these 60 schools, after finding the result it was found that 85 % of schools are lacking the WASH facilities, while the 60 % of all diseases are attributable to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. The major diseases include diarrhea, typhoid, hepatitis-A&E, trachoma, intestinal worms and others. Diarrhea is responsible for 11 per cent of under-five deaths in the area (WHO DEWS 2010).
HRDS has started its intervention in month of May and completed in September 2010, by achieving all targets in an appropriate manner. The project activities include construction/Rehabilitaon of latirens,water supply schemes, installation of hand washing point, waste bins, health & hygiene session, distribution of student hygiene kits among school students, formation and training of hygiene promotion committees, capacity building of teaching staff and mobilization campaigns for adopting simple positive behaviors such as hand washing with soap at critical times, proper handling and storage of water, use of latrine for defecation, food protection and improving domestic hygiene. “Hand washing with soap before handling food and after defecation for instance, could reduce the diarrheal related deaths among children by half and protect the health of many more.
5
INTRODUCTION
1. Background
The conflict in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA has severely impacted those least able to shoulder the burden of recovery, significantly increasing the vulnerability of households and entire communities. Even prior to conflict, the conflict affected areas were facing low enrolment, high drop outs, lack of facilities in schools, widespread damage to existing water supply schemes which affected the availability of clean water for sanitation and drinking purposes. In addition , access to proper water storage systems and basic hygiene and household NFIs are inadequate in all conflict affected areas. Widespread damage to existing water supply schemes in conflict affected areas, affects the availability of clean water for sanitation and drinking purposes. Besides the lack of basic sanitation and water facilities, the access to proper water storage systems and basic hygiene elements are inadequate. Moreover, target population rarely treats their drinking water and practical hygiene awareness is low.
Beside communities, school situations are more at risk. Condition of water and sanitation facilities in schools was not satisfactory even before conflict and it is further aggravated due to conflict in the area. In the absence of proper water and sanitation facilities children use open fields for defecation and usually bring water from homes to drink. This situation creates high risk in increase in diarrhea and other water & sanitation born diseases. Beside this due to no availability of water & sanitation facilities parents hesitate to send their children especially girls to school.
A month long war on terrorism by the Government of Pakistan where wiping terrorists out from
Swat, Malakand and FATA. Number of schools has been damaged as a result of military
operation in the target area and thousands of children have discontinued their education. One of
the major problem for the discontinuation of education is the lacking of WES facilities in the
schools especially for girls and it is a major problem for teachers.
Overall goal of the project was to rehabilitate/reconstruct the WASH services in the government schools primary and middle both girls and boys in UC Islampur and Shalpin. The WASH interventions focused on reducing the incidences of water and sanitation related diseases by providing safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene promotion initiatives in the respective 60 schools of UC Islampur and UC Shalpin in district Swat.
6
2. Project Area
UC Islampur Tehsil Babozai lies 7 kilometers from main Saidu Sharif Mingora swat towards south east. Its total population is 42,200. The area is famous for handy crafts as the main source of income for the inhabitants. The beautiful Marguzar, famous and historical white palace hotel are the prominent tourism spots in the area. The major crops are maize, wheat while the peaches, persimmon and apples are the major fruits of the area. Union councils Shalpin tehsil Khwazakhela lies 32 kilomteres from main Mingora Swat toward North(5 km from Khwazakhela proper)
Number of Target Schools: 60 (Primary and Middle both Boys and Girls)
No. of Schools No. of Students Union Council Category Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
Primary 17 5 22 2499 630 3129 Middle 5 2 7 735 252 987 Islampur Sub Total 22 7 29 3234 882 4116 Primary 15 6 21 2352 756 3108 Middle 4 6 10 588 756 1344 Shalpin Sub Total 20 12 31 2940 1512 4452
3. Project Targets
• Pre and post intervention assessment of 60 schools regarding Health hygiene & Sanitation
facilities.
• 360 health and hygiene sessions.
• Formation and Training of 60 hygiene promotion committees for hygiene promotion.
• Training of water supply caretakers to ensure sustainable use of the facilities.
• Distribution of 9,000 hygiene kits among school students.
• Construction/Rehabilitation of 120 latrines
• Installation of 60 hand washing points
• Installation of 60 solid waste bins
• Provision of 28 New water supply schemes to schools
• Rehabilitation of 10 existing water supply schemes
• Installation of 22 hand pumps
• Analysis of existing water source and chlorination
7
4. Achievements
The school WES project has two main components, hard ware and software, the main achievement of the project is to increase the enrolment of 2450 students as at the start of project total number of students were 8568 were as now it is 11018 the overall achievements under the project are;
• Pre and post intervention assessment of 60 schools regarding health hygiene & Sanitation facilities was done.
• 360 health and hygiene sessions were conducted • 60 hygiene promotion committees were formation and trained for hygiene promotion. • Training of water supply caretakers to ensure sustainable use of the facilities. • 9,000 hygiene kits distributed among school students. • 65 latrines were construction were as 55 existing damaged latrines were rehabilitated • 60 hand washing points were constructed • Solid waste collection bins were installed in 60 schools • 28 New water supply schemes were provided to the schools • 10 existing water supply schemes were rehabilitated • Only 04 hand pumps were installed the target was not achieved due to hard soil strata, certain
borings were also failed • Analysis of existing water source and chlorination done
A. Software Activities The software components of the WASH intervention focused on capacity building, BCC interventions and IPC regarding hygiene promotion and proper utilization of facilities installed under project agreement for adoption of safe hygiene practices by students in the target schools. A.1. Pre-Intervention Assessment of 60 schools for WASH Facilities A questionnaire was developed for the assessment of school to layout for WASH facilities, according to the data collected from the school authorities, it was found that 85 % schools are lacking of WASH facilities. This was a KAP survey due to which the needs & gaps were identified for the implementation of project interventions. During this assessment a total of 60 targeted schools were visited by the HRDS team, and collected the data of questionnaires from the school authorities.
HRDS team during Assessment
8
A.2. Health & Hygiene Session: Total 360
A total number of 360 hygiene sessions were conducted in 60 schools i-e 6 sessions/schools. The hygiene promoter delivered the key messages regarding, hygiene, its types, demerits of open defecation, use of latrines, hand washing ,water born diseases through IEC materials and proper demonstration for the adaptation of positive behaviors among the students.
A.3. Distribution of student Hygiene Kits: Before the distribution of student Hygiene Kits, One day distribution ceremony was organized at GPS Islampur on June 25. The chief guest of the ceremony Mr. Abdullah Shah District Officer E & SE Swat launches the distribution of student hygiene kits. A total of 9,000 student hygiene kits were distributed among the student of 60 schools during the project period.
A.4. Formation of Hygiene Promotion Committees.
For the sustainability of the hygiene practices among the school students, a committee was formed on school level. Each committee consists of six member including five students and one teacher. Their roles and responsibilities of each member were identified. The main objective of the committee is to maintain cleanness at schools level including students and other physical structures (latrine, waste bins, rooms etc). Head teacher of the school is nominated as the secretary for the committee who will supervise and monitor the committee on daily basis.
9
A.4.1.Training of Hygiene Promotion Committees After formation of the hygiene promotion committees, all the committee members were trained on their roles, working aimed to active and functional committee. Their capacity were build on complete knowledge regarding hygiene. A.5. Training of care takers: The sustainability of the project and project assets are very compulsory for the beneficiaries. Similarly the proper maintenance and operation of the installed facilities can increase the life span and having long time functional. After once the WES facilities were installed in the schools, so a care takers committee was formed for the proper maintenance and operation of the facilities. The care taker committee consists of three person, school peon, PTC member and teacher. A capacity building work shop was organized by the HRDS on each UC level. A total of 180 members from 60 care takers committees were trained during the month of September 2010. A.6. Capacity building of teachers on C to C approach: Child to child approach on school sanitation and hygiene education can play vital role for behavior change communication among the school students, teachers and school management committee. The capacity building of teaching staff on C to C can further grooms the campaign and is very fruitful for the long time behavior change regarding health and hygiene education. It is the simplest strategy and easily understanding campaign for the adaptation of behaviors and dissemination of key messages. According to the PCA the HRDS organized two day capacity building workshop on C to C for 120 teachers. Two teachers from each school are participated in this workshop. Table show number of teachers trained on C to C
S.No Union Councils Male Female Total 1 Islampur 44 14 58 2 Shalpin 44 18 62
Grand Total 88 32 120
A.7. PTC Meetings Parent Teacher Council is a volunteer organization or committee that is not affiliated with any other state or national organization but only with Elementary & Secondary Education Deptt of the government. PTC membership includes parents, teachers and staff. The purpose of the organization is to promote a healthy working relationship and an open line of communication between home and school. A.8. Membership of the P.T.C. Detail of Membership will be as follows:
10
1. Parents will be electing five members and out of which one will be the chairperson. 2. Head of the Institution will be the Secretary of the association 3. Retired Govt. official and resident of the area as a member. 4. An elderly person of the village to be elected by the parents
A strong and active PTC can decrease the drop out problems and can increase the student enrollment through different initiatives. To strengthen the PTC, reactivate and to sensitize them about their roles and responsibilities, The HRDS team arranged the meeting with members of PTC in every school.
PTC Meeting in GPS Daroghari UC Shalpin PTC meeting in GGPS Spal Bandai UC Islampur B. Hardware Activities: The hardware components of the WASH intervention were comprised of following activities: B.1. Construction/ Rehabilitation of 120 latrines: After conducting pre-assessment survey of the 60 schools by HRDS field staff, schools were identified in UC Islampur and in UC Shalpin which had no latrines or were less in number as compared to students’ enrollment. The existing latrines were found either non functional or required rehabilitation, in which HRDS team functionalize and rehabilitated the latrine. A total of 65 new latrines were constructed while 55 old latrines were rehabilitated in selected schools after need base assessment. School wise details is attached as annexure-1
District officer Education on monitoring visit to Construction site Unit latrine in GPS Gujar Tangy UC Islampur
11
B.2. Installation of 60 Washing Points for Hand Washing. Proper hand washing after use of latrine can reduce the chances of communicable and fatal diseases, so it is necessary to have this facility in each school. After conducting pre-assessment survey of the 60 schools by HRDS field staff, schools were identified in UC Islampur and – in UC Shalpin, where no hand washing point was existed. Details of the schools, where hand washing point were constructed are given in annexure-1
B.3. Installation of Hand Pumps: Five hand pumps were installed in 4 schools of UC Shalpin and in one school of UC Islampur. Due to hard geological strata in both the mentioned UC’s, the option of providing water supply through installation of hand pumps were replaced with piped supply.
B.4. New/Rehabilitation of Water supply Through Piped Water Supply in 38 schools: A total of 28 Schools were provided new water supply while water supply of 10 schools were rehabilitated in both 38 schools of both UCs.
12
Before the Provision of WES facilities After the provision of WES Facilities B.5. Installation of 60 Solid Waste Bins: Waste collection is one of the important components in sanitation/ solid waste management. In the schools WES project ,HRDS has provided one waste bin to each school i.e. 29 in UC Islampur and 31 in UC Shalpin.
5. Issues/Challenges: 1. Hard and tough area, majority of schools lies on the top of hill. 2. Damages of roads, bridges due to flood. 3. Closure of school during the month of July and August 2010. 6. Suggestion/Recommendation After the implementation of school WES project, it is suggested that such type of intervention should also be started in school especially of upper swat because majority of schools are lacking these facilities. Community WES programme should also be initiated on community level to overcome the alarming situation of water born disease in the area. The major problem in UC Islampur is the drinking water quality, as the main water supply scheme for Islampur village is from a rainy nullah which is having bad water quality, so it is strongly recommended to take the issue into consideration to solve. Village Islampur have a total population of 27,000 while there is no clean and safe drinking water for them.
