WaSH: Water, sanitation and hygiene training for developing countries

Clean drinking water, access to a toilet and the possibility to at least wash one’s hands is one of the fundamental rights of every human being. Since this is unfortunately difficult to realize in reality, at least every school in our sphere of influence should have it.

Schools have the special feature that by installing a WASH system, we do not only help the current pupils, but also, depending on the lifespan of the system, the many generations of pupils and their families after, since the children take home and spread the newly acquired knowledge about hygiene and drinking water.

Depending on the number of students and the local circumstances, we equip the schools with the WASH components described below. For schools between 50 and 500 pupils, the required budgets are usually between 7.000, – and 20.000, – Euro.

If you, your club, or your company are looking for a way to help many needy children quickly, effectively, and sustainably, funding a school upgrade with a WASH is certainly the way to go.

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WaSH in detail

Toilet buildings

Toilets or latrines are either not available in many schools, or they are useless due to lack of water and mostly completely overgrown.

If a building is available, we renovate it and connect it to our water system. If there is no building at all, we build it.

It is important for us that the toilets are separated for boys and girls and that they are built handicapped accessible. In Cambodia, the toilets are mostly latrines, more simply holes in the ground. As these cannot be used by a disabled child, we install at least one seat toilet in European style in addition to a wheelchair-accessible sloping driveway.

Costs: € 150,- to € 1.000,-

Hand washing stations

In schools, many children may want to wash their hands at the same time. Therefore, we set up hand washing stations in front of the toilets and directly in front of the school entrance. These do not have a fixed size or design; they are rather geared to the number of pupils and the local conditions.Since the schools concerned are usually located in areas where clean water is a rare commodity, we must also protect the facility against theft at this point. Especially in South-East Asia, theft is neither the order of the day, nor is it tolerated. In the case of clean drinking water, however, the motives are certainly understandable. Nevertheless, we must prevent this in the sense of the children and switch off the hand washing stations after school.

Costs: € 150,- to € 1.200,-

Rainwater collection system

Especially in Cambodia and Laos there is enough clean rainwater during the rainy season. But as soon as it touches the ground and mixes with the many chemicals used in agriculture and the faeces of the rural population, it is of course unusable for consumption and hygiene.

Since most schools have a well-preserved roof without asbestos, we like to use a rainwater collection system. We install a rain gutter and connect it to one or more light-proof water tanks. This keeps the clean rainwater throughout the dry season and the capacity can be variably adapted to the needs and conditions of the school.

Cost: € 200,- to € 3.000,-

Water filters

Depending on the water quality of our “water source”, we use various water filters. The range goes from bio-sand filters to ceramic filters to technical filter systems. When selecting filters, it is important that they can also be serviced and maintained by the people who use them.Filters are, of course, accompanied by recurring checks on water quality. To this end, our local partners use special water testers and cooperate with laboratories in the larger cities.

Costs: € 75,- to € 2.600,-

Training in Water / Hygiene / Environment

Before we decide to install a WASH at a school, we look at the director, the teachers and the community. Only if they agree to learn the necessary knowledge in our training courses and to pass on this knowledge to the students, will we convert the school. We want to transport knowledge to the students.

We train in the following areas:

correct handling of the WASH system, maintenance, independent maintenance and cleaning
Basic knowledge of hygiene and water-induced diseases
Avoiding and proper handling of garbage
Rule: washing your hands when you arrive at school and after using the toilet
Rule: Prohibition of burning plastic in front of the school

Costs: € 400,- to € 2.400,-

… practical development aid that arrives.