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This Grant Project which covers Three Primary and Five Secondary Schools seeks to provide access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation, and hygiene facilities to the benefiting schools and communities, thereby reducing the prevalence of WASH-related diseases and their associated deaths. The teachers, students, and community members of these benefiting schools will be trained on proper WASH-Practices and their health benefits and will be expected to take the message to their homes and neighbourhood.
During the Community Assessment of these schools, we found out that they do not have safe drinking water sources, modern toilet facilities, improved knowledge of best WASH-Practices, etc. We equally observed that absenteeism of the female students is on the increase due to lack of convenience, especially during their monthly menstrual cycle. Furthermore, the learning environment is being threatened by an offensive odour and other forms of air pollution due to open defecation. These factors form the basis for this proposed Project. Upon completion, the environment will be clean, safe, and healthy for teaching and learning. The Project will reduce the cases of fecal, sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases, increase attendance and the beauty of the school; as the Schools' Management will properly maintain all WASH systems: toilets, hand washing stations, water supply points, etc.
According to UNICEF 2019: approximately 60 million Nigerians were living without access to basic drinking water services, 80 million without access to improved sanitation facilities, and 167 million without access to a basic handwashing facility. In rural areas, 39 percent of households lack access to at least basic water supply services, while only half have access to improved sanitation, and almost a third (29 percent) practice open defecation - a fraction that has marginally changed since 1990.
Therefore, the aim of this project is to address a fraction of the above unfortunate situations we found ourselves in Nigeria, especially in Aba Metropolis of Abia State.
OBJECTIVES
1. To provide access to safe drinking water through a motorized water borehole equipped with 4000 liters capacity overhead tanks in 5 schools while reactivating 3 motorized water boreholes in 3 schools.
2. To facilitate World Health Organisation (WHO) universal and equitable access to improved sanitation and hygiene practices in order to achieve an open defecation-free school environment through the provision of sanitation facilities: 5Nos. 6 stance toilet blocks in 5 schools and 1No. 4 stance toilet block in 1 school.
3. Provision of 8Nos 8WASH Stations for the management, staff, teachers, pupils, and students of the schools.
4. To enhance staff and students' knowledge of WASH-Practices, by providing hygiene education and healthy behaviours such as hand washing, safe disposal of human waste, safe water storage, proper menstrual hygiene, etc.
5. To reduce the prevalence of WASH-related and their associated deaths in Aba and its environs.
6. To improve pupils' and students' enrolment and attendance at schools, especially the females.
BENEFICIARIES
1. The management, staff, teachers, pupils, and students of the benefiting schools.
2. The communities hosting the schools, will have access to clean and safe water at an affordable rate.
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