Photograph 1437: School pupils at Rwankenzi wash their food containers after the lunch break
No better timing for this story than the first day of the school term
Published on: 17/09/2024
By Gerald Tenywa and Naomi Kabarungi
The targets may be distinct but interventions towards the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG) on water and sanitation are benefitting education, health and gender equality, among others. Gerald Tenywa and Naomi Kabarungi reveal how Kabarole is doing it.
For the first time in its history, Rwankenzi Primary School in Kasenda subcounty, Kabarole district, is outperforming the neighbouring private schools.
Janerose Kiiza who is the headmistress of the school says that they used to get less than five first grades, meaning that performance has improved by more than four times. The school has increased its enrolment and girls dropping out has become a thing of the past. Above all, complaints about diarrheal diseases have declined.
“We had 600 pupils in 2021, but now the numbers have increased to 721. Parents used to take the best pupils away to what used to be better schools for P6 and P7, but now they keep children in our school because they are getting good value for their money,” says Kiiza.
This has come to Rwankenzi because of a clean learning environment, thanks to the piped water extension and safe toilets, and the attitude that the school has recently acquired. The disease burden which was previously high has been checked ever since Rwankenzi got hooked to the local piped water network.
“We used to have up to 15 children falling sick in a day. But of late, we can take a week without anyone falling sick. This has reduced absenteeism,” she says.
“We have a school management committee and an active health club to monitor and spread the gospel on water and sanitation,” the head teacher says. “The committees in the school community encourage behavioural change.”
Rwankenzi is one of the schools in Kabarole benefitting from transformative model programmes for WASH (Water and Sanitation) in Schools by IRC WASH (International Water and Sanitation Centre). The school health club and management committee are trained to influence positive hygiene attitudes among peers and to advocate for improved budget for water and sanitation for the learners, respectively.
The long-standing problem of menstrual hygiene management at Rwankenzi Primary School has come to an end. "Girls are no longer dropping out of school," Kiiza says, adding that they have prepared both the girls and the boys to ensure that menstruation does not disrupt the girls. “The boys and girls can make menstrual hygiene materials, says the head teacher. “We put in some money and buy materials for making pads, while the children use their acquired skills to hand-make the pads,” says Kiiza.
Such milestones are speaking for the interventions Kabarole and her partners are taking to bring water and sanitation to schools as well as the communities.
Kasenda sub-county where Rwankenzi Primary School is located, is known for its many crater lakes that attract tourists from far and wide. Yet, the communities find it hard to access safe water.
Originally, the national water supply utilities would not consider serving places such as Kasenda with piped water preferring to focus on urban centres that offer better business. This is where the alternative Umbrella Authorities have come in to extend safe water supply to rural growth centres including Kasenda that were previously unserved.
“Now we have piped water, but sometimes the flow is irregular,” Kiiza says, adding that they were engaging the leadership of the Umbrella to ensure that they get a more consistent supply of water.
“The school also harvests rainwater which we can only use for the hygiene facilities but not for drinking, but even that is not available all the time.”
The children at Rwankenzi Primary School enjoy the innovative water-saving handwashing station known as the WASHALOT
“I get water to drink from the can when I want it, there is a new clean toilet with toilet paper, and we can all wash our hands on the WASHALOT before eating our lunch,” says Joventa Ninsiima, a pupil in P6.
Her schoolmate believes there is no better school in Kasenda than Rwankenzi. “I do not have any plans of leaving until I finish my studies,” says Rita Nasasira, a pupil in P7 at Rwankenzi Primary School.
The milestones at Rwankenzi Primary School stem from steps taken by the school and Kabarole district to put people at the centre of water and sanitation interventions. Kabarole has 61 schools, and Rwankenzi has provided a blueprint to replicate water and sanitation interventions in the other schools. How about the rest of the country!
Six years ago, Kabarole became the first district in Uganda to draft a plan for safe water and sanitation: the Kabarole District WASH Master Plan 2018–2030. This is expected to bring home what is referred to as the 2030 sustainable development agenda or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the renowned slogan: leaving no one behind.
World leaders, including President Yoweri Museveni, agreed on 17 interconnected goals (SDGs) in 2015, ending in 2030. SDG6 is about water, sanitation and hygiene, which remains one of the biggest outstanding challenges in the developing world, including Uganda.
The 2030-Kabarole district master plan helps to guide partners in the water and sanitation sector where and how to intervene as well as the resources – money, people and technology - to be deployed.
Prior to the creation of Kabarole district (WASH) water and sanitation master plan, people were unwilling to pay for water.
“What we thought is that water was free and in never-ending supply,” says Peter Bazira, an elected political councillor and appointed Secretary for Finance, Planning and Administration on the Kabarole District Executive Committee. Bazira who also heads the District Water and Sanitation Task Team says operation and maintenance of water facilities was not given attention because the communities did not have a sense of ownership.
“Through outreach initiatives supported by our partners, the communities are empowered to demand for their right to access water services and at the same time understood that they should equally be responsible for maintaining the water source,” says Bazira.
In addition, water and sanitation were among the least priorities for government, according to Bazira. This has turned round as partners pushed politicians to realise that it was important to pay for water to ensure sustainability. “As leaders, we have had a mind-set change,” he says.
Instead of hoodwinking the people, WASH champion politicians such as Bazira started sensitising them to contribute a minimum amount of Ushs1,000 per month per household to pay for operation and maintenance of their community water source.
“ They have responded so well that many households are now willing paying over and above the minimum UShs 1,000 that we set; says Bazira. “Can you imagine that someone in a household is paying Ushs 20,000!” There is a principle Kabarole district has embraced. This is paying for water as you go, according to Bazira.
It also has religious, cultural leaders, civil society as well as private sector represented. With support of IRC WASH, the task team meets every quarter to discuss outstanding challenges such as open defecation in some communities, opportunities for resource mobilisation, as well as capacity building for monitoring and advocating for improved water, sanitation and hygiene services. The task team works as the overseer of the implementation of the District WASH Master Plan.
In the communities that are fully served with water sources, small businesses such as vegetable farms and eateries are thriving. At the model health facilities, visits for hygiene-related infections are less frequent, an indication that the population is healthier and can now save money previously spent on preventable diseases. In schools such as Rwankenzi, children enjoy full-time learning and play as they are now relieved of the burden of carrying water from far off sources.
“I wish we had not ignored water and sanitation for too long; we have made all these improvements in farm yields, school grades especially for girls, and clean health centres because we put focus on the most important things,” says Bazira.
The transformation has extended to leadership.
“We have consulted and are actively engaged to identify our problems and solutions,” says Resty Kabahuma Balinda, Woman Councillor for Busoro and Rwengaju sub counties. “As politicians, promoting sustainable WASH models has made us more popular. People are getting to understand that our selfish campaigns are behind us,” she adds.
However, political leaders are worried that if the challenges of non-functionality and poor maintenance of water sources are not addressed, the target to reach everyone will not be achieved.
A mid-term review of the Kabarole WASH master plan found that access to improved water sources had improved from 51 percent in 2017 to 78 percent by 2023.
“It is good that we have reached 78 percent already in the last six years, but we have a duty to make sure that the critical 22 percent of the population can also get improved water sources,” said Richard Rwabuhinga, District Chairman Kabarole.
The testimony of Kabarole’s progress on its journey to 2030 could be a stepping stone for Uganda to achieve targets in education, healthcare and economic development if it were not confined to just a few districts, according to Jane Nabunnya Mulumba, Country Director IRC WASH.
“Kabarole’s success is like a new baby that we must not leave to die in infancy but should be nurtured for the rest of the country to appreciate and adopt,” says Mulumba. “I call upon the government planning body and all stakeholders to include WASH master planning as a critical approach of the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP4) agenda”.
This story was first published by the Ugandan local daily The New Vision on 16 September 2024
It is good that we have reached 78 percent already in the last six years, but we have a duty to make sure that the critical 22 percent of the population can also get improved water sources
Richard Rwabuhinga, District Chairman Kabarole.
I get water to drink from the can when I want it, there is a new clean toilet with toilet paper, and we can all wash our hands on the WASHALOT before eating our lunch
Joventa Ninsiima, pupil in P6
