Research summary : roles and responsibilities pilot, January - November 2011 : a SWASH+ project report

While school-based water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs have been shown to improve health and educational outcomes for school children, there are often sharp declines over time in functionality of water and sanitation infrastructure and the provision of key inputs, such as soap and treated drinking water. Lack of government oversight and limited support from teachers, pupils, and parents have been identified as causes of these declines. Engaged are fourteen schools in a set of interventions expanding and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of parents, pupils, and teachers for monitoring school WASH facilities. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were held with school stakeholders over the course of two terms to explore learning from the implementation process. Involving parents in monitoring was widely accepted among teachers and had some indication of effectiveness in identifying and resolving problems like repair needs and lack of supplies; however, there was inconsistent participation among parents. Involving pupils in monitoring reduced self-reported teacher workload and both pupils and teachers reported that it improved cleanliness of latrines. Efforts to provide teachers with operational tools to integrate monitoring WASH facilities and activities into their daily duties were well received, but they did not appear to have any noticeable effect on schools’ WASH programs. Greater involvement of parents and students in monitoring school WASH programs was endorsed by both teachers and the parent community, and there were indications that the interventions could produce improvements in cleanliness of latrines and availability of supplies, as well as increased awareness of needed repairs. These interventions should be more rigorously tested at a larger scale and additional research is needed to determine how to ensure consistent participation of parents and pupils over time. [authors abstract]

This is a SWASH+ -output.