Schools Get Resourceful:

Creative Ways to Fund and Supply School WASH in

Rural Kenya

Charles Oyugi, the head teacher at Tonde Primary School, is committed to safe water, and high standards for hygiene and sanitation and is improvising solutions. He made water stoppers out of nails when the school could not afford taps.

While national standards for school water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) have been set forth in 2008 by the Ministry of Education, financial support for school WASH is inconsistent across the country. Funding for recurrent costs of WASH systems, such as fixing broken taps and maintenance of latrines, has not been incorporated into funding for schools. School do not have a consistent funding source with specific budget lines, therefore, WASH systems must compete for funding with electricity and repair of classroom structures.

Some schools allow community members to use their borehole for a small fee as a community service. In Wagai Primary School, the fees for water usually go toward maintaining the borehole.

In a SWASH+ pilot

community members

contributed to

school water,

sanitation and

hygiene (WASH) by

volunteering with

the School

Management

Committee as

parent health

representatives.

Representatives

check to make sure

protocols for water

safety, latrine

cleanliness and

hygiene are being

followed.

The health representative monitoring system helps to keep schools accountable for improvements, however, without increased financial commitment to school WASH from the government, conditions worsen and the financial burden falls on parents.

John Otieno fills out the checklist for his review of the facilities

Pamela sells extra sweet potatoes in order to personally contribute to the schools’ water and sanitation supplies. Her sacrifice helps to provide where the school budget falls short. Parents often personally sacrifice funds and supplies when the school cannot pay for needed maintenance.

Pamela Akinyi, 42, mother of Willis, 8, and Winnie, 10, harvests sweet potatoes planted on her land in Kasboga Village, Kenya where her children attend Wagai primary school

"Sometimes the (sanitary) supplies run out and parents are called to contribute,” says Pamela. “They buy soap, bleach, even WaterGuard. Since SWASH started

children come and tell the parents what they learned in school and they listen and do the same things at home. Children want water to be treated and they wash

hands after toileting" – Pamela Akinyi

Schools get resourceful by planting and working a garden to supplement funds and earn money for various unmet needs. Vegetables from the garden help provide school lunches and extra income. Funds from the school garden may go towards capital projects, new classrooms or roofs, or sanitation and hygiene.

Farming helps schools supplement income for WASH expenses. At God Aburo Primary School’s sugar cane plot (pictured here), the School Management Committee (SMC) is responsible for cultivating and managing the plot, and decides how to use the funds. Last harvest yielded 170,000 Ksh (1977.90

USD) and they generally harvest every 14-16 months.

In the past the SMC has used the funds to buy WASH supplies, school improvements, repair and maintenance, and motivational items for students

and teachers (plastic chairs, cups, meals with SMC and teachers, etc.).

Emanuel Juma (white coat), chair of the School Management Committee at Wagai Primary School plows his fields with help of hired farm hands. Juma personally contributes to school WASH supplies, buying soap or other supplies when the school runs out.

“[The children] used to be sickly, I think from poor water,” says Juma. “Now you don't find sick

children sitting in the sun sleeping with fever. We need a combined effort from the Ministry of

Health and the community so that if the NGOs leave there is a continuation of the program. "

Schools are able to save money and provide students with soap by mixing powdered soap with water in bottles. The ‘soapy water’ was an innovation created as a result of research on soap provision at Kenyan schools.

Another innovation is placing soap on a rope near handwashing stations. This prevents soap theft and loss of soap.

Schools have created shades over water vessels to keep water at a cooler temperature

for drinking.

Students contribute to their school’s resourcefulness by bringing water from

local water sources (river or borehole) for the community of students to share

throughout the day.

Students improvise in order to clean water containers. Instead of using purchased materials such as, a sponge, pad, or brush, students use plastic material from a grain sack to clean water containers.

Students also help maintain WASH standards by cleaning latrines. When long handled commercial brooms cannot be funded, students make short handled brooms with reeds or tree branches.

Sustained school water, sanitation and hygiene takes a group effort and resourcefulness.

Everyone – from parents, to pupils, to school administrators, to government – needs to be committed to ensure that schools have safe water, clean latrines, and good hygiene behaviours over the long term.

A consistent school budget with ample funding and appropriate allocation of funds for school WASH is needed to ensure WASH standards are being

met at schools across Kenya.

References

Photography by CARE/Brendan Bannon/Kelly Alexander. Photo essay by Julie Straw; edited by Malaika Cheney-Coker.

SWASH+ is a five-year applied research project to identify, develop, and test innovative approaches to school-based water, sanitation and hygiene in Nyanza Province, Kenya. The partners that form the SWASH+ consortium are CARE, Emory University, the Great Lakes University of Kisumu, the government of Kenya, and the former Kenya Water for Health Organisation (KWAHO), and Water.org. SWASH+ is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Water Challenge. For more information, visit www.swashplus.org.