Water Blogged

Construction of latrines:
The project planned to construct 4 latrine stances for the girls, 4 latrine stances for the boys, 2 latrine stances for male teachers and 2 latrine stances for female teachers of Moyo Secondary School. This was preceded by a needs assessment that was conducted in July 2017. Before the construction, a comprehensive baseline was again conducted by the GWWI Moyo team and the school. Upon submission of the baseline findings and the plans for the construction of the latrine facilities, the GWWI Moyo team was advised to abide by the new government policy that states that all schools must have either drainable latrines or flushing toilets. This led to budget reviews and target adjustments. The project was adjusted to construct 3 stances for boys, 3 stances for the girls and a septic tank for the disposal of the flushed fecal matter. The funds that would have been used to build the 1 extra stance for boys and girls and 2 stances for male and female teachers was instead used to construct the septic tank.

WASH education for the students and teachers:
To ensure the proper operation and maintenance of the new latrine facilities and to ensure that the latrines contribute to the control of illnesses, we integrated the construction of the latrines with education of the students and teachers on the importance of proper latrine use, hand washing after using the latrine and the importance of keeping the latrines clean. During the health education sessions, the school prefects, warden, matron and senior female teacher were specifically assigned the role of leadership in ensuring the proper use and operation of the constructed facilities. The selected teachers and prefects will work with the newly formed school sanitation club.

Formation of Sanitation Club:
The project planned to form and train a sanitation club that would take the lead in the operation and maintenance of the latrine facilities and carry on with WASH education after the construction team left the school. This club has student representatives from each class. The objective of having a representative from each class is to have a person to constantly remind the rest of the students of their commitment to maintaining good sanitation and hygiene at all times. This club was formed and trained on their roles and responsibilities which among others include:
– Creating cleaning rosters for each class.
– Giving health education talks to classmates.
– Routine monitoring of the latrines to ensure that they are clean.

Project output/short term impacts:
– All registered students are still in the school with 0 drop out since the construction of the latrines.
– The GWWI team lobbied with the school to fence off the girls’ dormitory to secure the new latrines and ensure the girls safety.
– Girls’ registration has improved from 210 in 2017 to 311 in 2018. This is because the girls now have a safe latrine to use.
– The latrine has reduced the risk of exposing girls to rape associated with the long distance the girls used to have to walk to the toilet.
– The new latrine being a flushing latrine was constructed near the dormitories and the classes since it has no smell nuisance. The proximity to the dormitory and classes also reduces the risk of snake bites.
– The health education sessions and formation of the health club has led to positive sanitation and behavior change.
– The school is now spending less money on WASH related diseases like diarrhea compared to 2016. This could be attributed to the fact that students are now washing their hands with water and soap after using the toilet.