Program successes
This project has met its aim to provide students at one rural school in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with adequate access to toilets and clean water for hand-washing and drinking.
Photo: Kau school is located in the Eastern Highlands of PNG, about 30 minutes’ walk from the main road.
Previously, students at Kau school were using dangerous and unhygienic toilets (see photo below). These toilets did not adequately meet the students’ sanitation needs and were located on a steep hill that was prone to subsiding in heavy rain. The younger students especially did not like using these toilets because they were afraid of falling between the logs and complained that they smelled very bad.
Photos: Left: old toilets. Right: new toilets
Thanks to the support of Footprints Network partners, this project constructed six new ventilated improved pit (VIP) toilets (three for the girls and three for the boys). These toilets are specially designed with vent pipes and cement slabs to minimise bad smells and to trap flies and other flying insects below in the pit – a key vector of disease. The cement slabs are also much easier to keep clean and maintain then toilets made out of traditional bush materials.
The Headmaster and the parents’ association decided to apply for additional funds from the Department of Education and upgraded the new toilets with permanent materials for the walls and doors.
Photo: The Headmaster also took the initiative to locate the school’s new
tapstand on the path that directly leads from the toilets to the school
classrooms . This foresight aims to provide a regular reminder
to children to wash their hands after using the toilet.
In PNG, adolescent girls sometimes stay home when they are menstruating because they do not have a private place to wash. This project provided a shower block for the girls in response to these needs. We anticipate that these new facilities, together with the toilets, will make a big impact on girls’ and their parents’ decisions to stay in school past adolescence.
In addition to the new latrines and shower block, this project was able to provide the school with a sustainable and safe drinking water supply. The students had previously had to bring water to school with them or walk to collect their drinking water from an unprotected creek that was often contaminated by upstream pollution from the nearby village. Now the students are able to access sufficient clean water for drinking and handwashing from two new 9,000L rainwater tanks.
As well as the new infrastructure, the project provided the school girls’ with information session on menstruation management – a taboo topic in PNG that often leads to misinformation and shame.
Photo: “We are very excited about the new toilets – they are clean and look much nicer than our old toilets” – Schoolgirls at Kau school, Eastern Highlands Province
Challenges
Schools in PNG have a high turnover of teaching staff, particularly in rural areas such as where Kau school is located. This can impact on the sustainability of infrastructure projects such as this one because it means that the new staff are not as engaged in maintaining the facilities. This project aimed to engage with parents through the school management board to address this issue.
The teachers’ have also established a cleaning roster for the students who are responsible for cleaning the new school toilets.
Partnership
This project was carried out by ATprojects, one of WaterAid’s local partner organisations in PNG. WaterAid and ATprojects have been delivering school WASH projects together in the Eastern Highlands Province of PNG for almost ten years.
Program timeline
This project commenced in October 2012 and was completed in June 2013. All construction and hygiene promotion activities are now complete for this school.
What’s covered in project cost
The total cost of providing water, sanitation and hygiene education to
one school in Papua New Guinea’s Eastern Highlands Province is $28,325.
This includes installing 6 toilets, a tank-based water supply, and one
female shower; running educational workshops for students and teachers,
and monitoring and evaluation of the project.
Project objective, aims and outcomes
This WaterAid project aims to ensure that all children at this rural
school have adequate access to toilets, and clean water for hand-washing
and drinking. Currently, most schools in Papua New Guinea are built
without toilets. Without these facilities, students go to the toilet in
the bushes – without privacy, and without any way to wash their hands
afterwards. Hygiene promotion, including hand-washing with soap, has
been shown to be one of the most effective ways of reducing diarrhoea,
which is the second-largest cause of child deaths globally.
The current setup poses a particular problem for girls. Lack of adequate
privacy and sanitation means girls are less likely to attend school
while menstruating, and may drop out of school altogether due to the
stigma and humiliation.
Expected outcomes include:
- Completed facilities for the school
- Completed scheduled education sessions for students and teachers
Expected longer-term outcomes:
- improved health among students
- better overall attendance and retention rate (especially among female students)
Background on current situation
Papua New Guinea ranks among the bottom 10 nations worldwide for access
to clean, safe water and sanitation, and its health indicators have
decreased rather than improved in recent years. Defecation is normally
outdoors in wooded areas, or in very basic and unhygienic concrete slab
pit latrines. Discussion of defecation is sensitive and in some cases
taboo in PNG. Most schools have been constructed without appropriate
water and sanitation services. Many students cannot attend school due to
diarrhoea and students are sent home when the limited school water
supplies run out.
Project partners / community involvement
WaterAid will work with with a long-term local partner, ATprojects, on
this project. ATprojects aims to enable rural people to develop and use
skills and appropriate technologies that give them more control over
their lives and contribute to the sustainable development of their
communities. WaterAid supports ATprojects through funding, by providing
advice and sharing resources, and providing monitoring and evaluation
advice.
The schoolchildren will be involved in construction of the facilities in
appropriate ways (eg collecting plant-based materials for the walls and
roof, and undertaking light construction work), and their parents’
involvement is also encouraged. Local materials are used in the
construction of the facilities.
How this project fits into a larger strategy
WaterAid has been working in Papua New Guinea since 2005. PNG faces many
development challenges. The majority of PNG’s population of 6.8 million
people live in small remote communities with limited or no road access,
relying on subsistence farming for their livelihood. Education levels
are low, and access to clean drinking water is an issue for over half
the population – with rural communities much worse off than those in
urban areas. As a consequence, many people suffer preventable diseases
such as diarrhoea, which are linked with poor sanitary practices and
lack of clean water. For example, around 2100 children under 5 die each
year in PNG from diarrhoea.
This WaterAid project works with schools because children are not only
among the most vulnerable to diseases but are also are quick to take on
new ideas and take them home to their families.