Sanitation Situation in Cambodian Schools:

The insufficient WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) facilities threaten or ignore privacy and security needs of school children and lead to a high risk of infections. This can affect children’s health and their ability to attend school, which can have a negative impact on their academic performance.

Poor water quality as well as insufficient sanitation and hygiene practices are common in many schools. In Cambodia more than 3.1 million students are enrolled in more than 11,000 schools. 47% of these schools have no access to water and 32% no access to appropriate sanitation (MoEYS, 2012). Existing sanitation facilities and water supply is often in very poor condition or not functioning. Further, most wastewater from schools is discharged untreated into the surrounding environment, which additionally threatens the health of all people living and working in the surrounding area.

The insufficient WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) facilities threaten or ignore privacy and security needs of school children and lead to a high risk of infections. This can affect children’s health and their ability to attend school, which can have a negative impact on their academic performance.

School Based Sanitation Approach:

In order to address these serious problems, since 2009, ESC-BORDA Cambodia has developed the School Based Sanitation (SBS) project approach to improve the Health, Hygiene & Sanitation situation in Cambodian schools.

Following the Ministry of Education’s School Health Policy, the integrated SBS approach (social and technical aspects) focuses on:

For smooth SBS implementation and long term sustainability of outcomes, ESC-BORDA Cambodia cooperates with four main groups of stakeholders:

Project Components:

Once schools are selected, social and technical Needs Assessment Surveys (NAS), including Health Impact Assessments (HIA), are conducted to gain more detailed information about the current WASH situation, in order to help effectively plan appropriate WASH interventions and activities.All SBS project schools are selected through a competitive and demand-based selection process to ensure that the schools have the willingness and ability to continue key SBS activities in the long run.

Social Aspects

Selected schools are supported in establishing School WASH Committees (SWC) which are responsible for all WASH interventions at school. The SWCs then take part in a series of trainings, such as

• WASH Best Practice
• FCM (Facilitation, Communication and Meetings)
• WASH Action Planning
• Popular Education
• Toilet O&M and O&M Budget Planning

These capacity building measures help to ensure the sustainability of important activities, such as Health & Hygiene Promotion as well as Operation & Maintenance, which are coordinated and carried out by the SWC.

Technical Aspects

After conducting technical feasibility studies, engineers from ESC-BORDA Cambodia plan and design new WASH facilities in cooperation with school level stakeholders, so that they meet their needs.

Options for SBS WASH facilities include renovated/new toilets and urinals; hand washing sinks; improved water supply or rainwater collection; bins; clay water filters; and on-site underground decentralized wastewater treatment solutions (DEWATS).

Benefits:

The construction of well-built and inviting WASH facilities with clean water and clean toilets improves hygiene significantly, which leads to a reduction of health risks and infection. The new toilet facilities with gender separation ensure the privacy, security and dignity of school children.

The biological treatment of wastewater by DEWATS ensures that wastewater discharged from schools meets environmental standards and improves the living conditions in areas surrounding schools.

Good hygiene behavior, due to Health & Hygiene education and the availability of functioning WASH facilities, is improved in a sustainable manner at school. This improved behavior can also be transferred to home – from children to parents.

Costs:

Costs of a SBS project includes both hardware (physical infrastructure) and software (operational and staff costs). For an average sized school with 500 to 1,000 students, about 60% would be spent on hardware and 40% on software. The average cost per student for a SBS project depends on the total number of students served by a project and ranges from just $30 to $50 US.