Child-friendly hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools : indispensible to effective hygiene education

This document covers all the stages of a design project, from needs assessment to operation and maintenance. It stresses the importance of active involvement of children, teachers, parents and the community during all of these stages so that they themselves will be able to find solutions for their own problems and needs. The scope of this document is limited to the design of the 'space' containing the hygiene and sanitation facilities. Within the context of this booklet the provision of water is addressed insofar as it is required to enable hygienic behaviour. The word 'toilet' is used for all kinds of technical sanitation solutions. Reference is made to a 'latrine' when the point addressed specifically reflects problems and solutions related to pits. The document describes in ten points those issues that are important when dealing with children, hygiene and sanitation in the school environment and provides practical, easily accessible guidance to policy makers, programme designers and implementers at field level. The ideas presented should not be considered as blueprints for solutions. Rather, they are 'concepts' intended to stimulate discussions and creative thinking that will need to be tailored to a particular project context. Moreover, they can serve for both the construction of new facilities and the rehabilitation of existing ones. The booklet contains two annexes showing how to integrate the different concepts: a checklist and a 'sample set-up' for the implementation of hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools.