Polish aid

Implementing entity:

Navegadores Society

Co-financing:

PLN 607,658

 

3,135 pupils of 20 primary schools in the municipalities of Kébémer, Ndande, Kab Gaye, Diokoul, Thiepp, Gueoul, Ngourane and Thiolom in the Kébémer department will be able to use modern sanitary infrastructure erected as part of the project – multi-stall lavatories with washbasins and access to running water. Toilet standards in public and private buildings in the Kébémer department’s municipalities have also improved. Following a 30-day building course, 20 workers have acquired better qualifications in constructing sanitary infrastructure according to applicable technical standards. Children from schools in which the infrastructure was installed as well as adult inhabitants of the municipalities have been educated on personal hygiene and lavatory use rules. Each school has appointed a rotational team, supervised by the principal, to maintain the lavatories and increase the level of hygiene in the municipality on an ongoing basis. Equipping schools with sanitary infrastructure, educational activities related to hygiene, and increased importance of lavatory maintenance teams in the local community resulted in higher attendance in schools, especially among girls (who, in facilities with no toilets and running water, frequently chose to skip classes during their periods). Experiences from similar projects carried out in 2016 and 2017 prove that educational facilities with sanitary infrastructure are highly popular among parents who decide what school to send their children to. For these schools, the increase in the number of pupils in the school year 2018/2019 compared to previous years was higher than the entire municipality average. In the long term, the project will contribute to mitigating the incidence of diseases transmitted through unwashed hands among pupils and school staff, as well as inhabitants of homes close to the school.