WASH in Schools Management Improvement Project in Zambia SUMMARY 
Defective WASH systems can easily serve as hubs for transmission of faecal-oral diseases which exert negative impacts on children’s physical and cognitive development. In the project, nine marginalised remote schools have been identified because of the lack of safe WASH facilities. Also amongst these students, are children with special needs. The overall objective is to ensure that boys and girls have access to adequate child friendly water supply, sanitation and handwashing facilities including provision of hygiene education. Plan is implementing the project in cooperation with district government officials, Elected Water Committee and Parent Teachers Association. The project is carried out in Chembe District and has started on 1-6-2016. It creates an enabling environment that provides the foundation for a scalable programme. An important activity is the focus on the realization of change in behaviour and to contribute to lasting outcomes for child health and education. In the selected project area most schools lack adequate WASH facilities. Especially in remote schools the situation is serious. For children with special needs it is even more challenging to attend the schools. The project will improve the WASH situation in 9 remote schools. By ensuring that boys and girls at 9 schools have access to adequate child friendly water supply and sanitation facilities with hand washing including provision of Hygiene education, (morbidity) rates of diarrhoea and other diseases caused by a lack of access to safe WASH will be reduced.

To support provision of appropriate (child-friendly), adequate (sufficient quantity) and well-maintained WASH facilities at schools that include consideration for children with special needs (including girls during menstruation and students with physical disabilities); And provision of health and hygiene education, as part of a broader goal to improve health and learning outcomes. 2.440 boys and 2.397 girls at 9 schools in Chembe District, Luapula Programme Unit in Zambia Project Initiation
1.	Start-up workshop to bring all implementation stakeholders on board and review project objectives and develop detailed implementation plan
2.	Baseline establishment – by Plan International Zambia staff and district government officials reviewing together the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocation Training and Early Education (MESVTEE) data which is updated yearly on school hygiene and sanitation knowledge, practices and facilities
3.	Discussing the lived experiences of adolescent girls and surrounding communities on how menses affect their opportunities to learn; and
4.	Ensuring inclusive designs take into account the needs of adolescent girls are constructed in each school e.g. wash rooms and incinerators.
5.	Training in WASH in schools Trainer of Trainers (Zone teachers, Environmental Health Technologists-EHTs and Community Development Assistants-CDAs including selected key district staff i.e. District Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Education (D-WASHE) members.
6.	Training of WASH in schools facilitators (Teachers and Parent Teachers Association members-PTAs).
7.	Construction of 6 water points (boreholes) in the 6 schools that do not have adequate, safe and reliable water supply.
8.	Construction of 31 child friendly latrine blocks, i.e. double VIPs consisting of two drop holes per block.  In each school, these will be improvements over the below existing number: See Annex 1
Blocks are separated by sex, meeting the Government approved ratio of 50 pupils per drop hole.  The latrines will provide girls privacy, and will have lockable doors.  There will be a ramp for easy accessibility by disabled children on one entrance of the latrine, in line with the approved national standards by the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocation Training and Early Education (MESVTEE).  The distribution of the latrines in the schools is based on school enrolment.  The government focus is to construct latrines for pupils to reduce on absenteeism especially for senior girls.  The project is not building any additional latrines for teachers due to limited funds.  It is expected that teachers will use existing latrines and those provided for them at their houses, situated right next to the school.
9.	Setting up mass hand-washing stations with soap.
10.	Triggering School Led Total Sanitation (SLTS) in schools by trained school level facilitators and long term follow-ups. 
11.	Promotion of safe hygiene practices including handwashing with soap (HWWS), environmental sanitation, proper use and management of toilets and safe water practices: Daily Hand Washing With Soap (HWWS) exercise for all school children (twice/day): at morning and afternoon breaks (once per each stream); 
12.	All food retailers/canteen staff sensitised on hygiene promotion and compulsory HWWS before preparing meals + request to children to wash their hands before eating; 
13.	During breaks (morning, noon, afternoon), school authorities to identify one pupil is appointed in front of each latrine block to ensure it is properly used and kept clean (a boy for boys blocks / a girl for girls block) and that children wash their hands with soap; 
14.	Litter collection and disposal bins provided by the school authorities to promote waste management among pupils;  
15.	Painting of picture messages on classroom and toilet walls (talking walls) using approved designs by the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocation Training and Early Education (MESVTEE) drawn by professionals; 
16.	Promoting use of anal cleansing materials for latrines provided by school authorities; 
17.	Menstrual Hygiene Management  (MHM) support for girls;
18.	Education/sensitization of both the school population (girls, boys and teachers)  and surrounding communities around the importance of MHM is done to remove the taboo tag attached to it so that information can get to all; 
19.	Provide schools with knowledge about support to provision of MHM materials (locally made sanitary pads) to the girls that have been proven to work in other areas or areas within the country; 
20.	Strengthen and ensuring that the School Health and Nutrition (SHN) Coordinators and/or Assistant SHN Coordinators in the school act as the focal point person in whom the girl children can confide in for their MHM issues. Ideally these should be female teachers for ease of open communication with the girls; 
21.	Formation of School WASH clubs involving pupils, teachers and community links and meets once/month; 
22.	Availability in the school of a monthly/weekly timetable stating the specific hygiene and sanitation activities to be implemented and who is responsible for it; 
23.	Once per month, each pupil to have a specific hygiene promotion homework for the week-end and reports on it on the Monday (+ written documentation); 
24.	Once per month: one Sanitation and Hygiene event happen in the school: triggering Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), HWWS demonstration, garbage disposal campaign e.t.c.; and 
25.	SLTS F Parent Teachers Association/Community will make payments  for spare parts and the services of area mechanics. The Elected Water Committee mobilizes financial community contributions.
I Built the results into the government appraisal procedure. Maintenance will be done according to the agreed national Sustainable Operation and Maintenance Approach (SOMAp) that Plan International Zambia has been part of its development . Local Authority/D-WASHE will be trained and made responsible for monitoring. Also a Water Committee will be elected. 
E The Elected Water Committee works closely with the Environmental Health Technologists (EHTs), other extension officers and the Ward Development Committee (WDC) on development.
T In their application for the WASH facilities, the communities have demonstrated their plan to own the operations and maintenance works 100%. The Elected Water Committee supervises the construction works including the drilling of the borehole to understand technicalities involved in drilling and installation of hand pumps before handover.
S A parent teachers association/community will be established which will monitor the local authority, plan the monitoring and inspect the facilities, and resolution of conflicts. The Elected Water Committee will also mobilizes other community contributions as labor and material. In Zambia, the Government through the Ministry of General Education (MoGE) works with several partners to improve school sanitation and hygiene practices among school pupils, including USAID, Water Aid, PLAN International, SNV, UNICEF, World Vision, GIZ and DGIS (Netherlands). 
The partners are working in partnership with Ministry of Education, Science, Vocation Training and Early Education (MESVTEE) and Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection (MWDSEP) to improve sanitation and hygiene practices in over 1,500 schools across all districts. Zone teachers, Environmental Health Technologists and Community Development Assistants, including selected key district staff i.e. District Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Education (D-WASHE) members are also involved and play an important role in achieving the results. In the schools Teachers and Parent Association members also actively contribute.