November 8, 2022
A new momentum for healthy, green schools in Lusaka
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, the Safe Back to School campaign has shown what’s possible when people come together around a shared aim. As COVID recedes, the campaign’s partners are seizing the momentum to broaden and deepen school health initiatives.
June 27, 2022
A win for WinS (WASH in schools): The UNICEF-GIZ partnership turns 10
A unique alignment of development partners working together over the last 10 years has supported major improvements in some countries and led to greater momentum for WASH in Schools.
May 12, 2022
Young female influencers energise the campaign against menstrual taboos in Nepal – and beyond
‘Clicktivism‘ is proving an effective tool for challenging harmful practices and for empowering young women in Nepal.
March 21, 2022
Beyond toilets: Managing human waste across the sanitation chain in India
In a bid to end open defaecation, India has built more than 100 million toilets since 2014. But to protect human health and the environment, cities have to safely manage what comes out of them. Shit Flow Diagrams have emerged as a key tool to help them plan and monitor progress.
December 9, 2021
Going back to school in the middle of a pandemic
To reopen – and stay open – schools around the world must translate strict hygiene standards into everyday practice. Indonesia is showing how simple checklists can help school communities do this. Other countries, like Malawi, are adapting the same approach.
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WASH
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are crucial for human life and health.
Every year almost seven million children die before their fifth birthday, many from preventable diarrhoeal diseases. About 780 million people have no access to safe drinking water, and more than one third of the world’s population live without even basic sanitation. Access to water can be a challenge, both in urban slums with congested public fountains and in rural areas, where collecting water for the household can require a long and sometimes dangerous trek by women or children to a distant well or waterhole.
A third to a half of schools and even health facilities in developing countries lack clean water and/or sanitation, making them a potential source of contamination. Lack of privacy in schools’ sanitary facilities restricts particularly girls’ access to education.
German development cooperation sees the realisation of the human right to water and sanitation as key to sustainable development and poverty reduction. As can be read in the articles and studies on this page, this immense challenge requires multidimensional efforts, allying sustainable infrastructure development (e.g. integrated and climate-sensitive urban sanitation systems) with impacting beneficiaries’ knowledge, attitude and practice concerning hygiene, as in adapted FIT for School programmes.
Stories
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A new momentum for healthy, green schools in Lusaka
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, the Safe Back to School campaign has shown what’s possible when people come together around a shared aim. As COVID recedes, the campaign’s partners are seizing the momentum to broaden and deepen school health initiatives.
-
A win for WinS (WASH in schools): The UNICEF-GIZ partnership turns 10
A unique alignment of development partners working together over the last 10 years has supported major improvements in some countries and led to greater momentum for WASH in Schools.
-
Young female influencers energise the campaign against menstrual taboos in Nepal – and beyond
‘Clicktivism‘ is proving an effective tool for challenging harmful practices and for empowering young women in Nepal.
Studies
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Keeping children ‘Fit for School’
Simple, scalable and sustainable school health in the Philippines