Handwashing Project Update

The Importance of Handwashing

The need for accessible hand hygiene has become hugely important globally over the past year, with the current Coronavirus pandemic emphasising how water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities and education can help protect people from the spread of infectious disease. 

Having access to the necessary hand hygiene facilities and education should be a basic right for all, but is far from the case for many people living in rural, developing countries. In 2010, a global review of child mortality rates estimated that 751,000 children died of diarrheal diseases that year, with such diseases being avoidable through correct hand hygiene and education. 

However, many countries lack these basic but vital resources which can help protect from the spread of infectious diseases and improve the livelihoods of those affected. In Tanzania, less than 10% of schools across the country have functioning hand washing facilities, and only 20% have water supply facilities. Children in these schools are regularly exposed to unsafe WASH facilities and lack the basic education in the practising of hand washing. 

School children in rural regions can quickly become sick and unable to attend school if they do not have access to safe hand washing facilities, as well as the correct education on hand washing habits and the importance of hand hygiene. This ultimately affects the child’s long term education, as well as their families ability to work due to the fast spread of these diseases. 

Through our hand washing and hygiene project, we set out to support local schools in the Arusha region, with the aim of improving school water, sanitation and hygiene (SWASH) by promoting hand hygiene in our partner schools. 

WE DID IT! An inside look at SWASH, our School, Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Project

Step One - THE CONSTRUCTION OF RELIABLE HAND WASHING STATIONS

The foundation of our hand-washing project is to enable students and teachers to wash their hands regularly. Therefore at the core of this project is the construction of robust hand washing stations, with effective drainage, and rainwater tanks to provide a sustainable water source. The Handwashing stations consisting of 14 water taps and 4 soap dispensers have been completed in three of our partner schools (Mshikamano, Maweni and Majimoto) and we are starting construction at two further schools to support over 2,500 children. We have included 3 months of soap supplies in the budget for each school. Over the 3 months, we will be working with the school Water and Project Committees to explore ways in which the school can fund soap on an ongoing basis. But this project was too urgent to wait for these plans to be realised so for now we have used your donations to provide soap during this vulnerable period.

Step Two - AWARENESS & TRAINING: OUR WORKSHOPS ON HAND-WASHING

Promoting good hand washing techniques is one of the key parts of our SWASH programme. With money raised from our appeal we were able to recruit and train 6 volunteers in Tanzania to deliver a series of handwashing workshops for students. These volunteers successfully delivered, through games, sports and role play, a four week handwashing & hygiene training programme to 1690 students, aged between six and eight, and more than 25 teachers. By integrating hygiene and safety information with music, games and singing, participation and social collaboration was greatly increased and the participants engaged with and learned more about the process of applying the hand-washing practices. 

Students at Majimoto taking part in one of the hand washing workshops run by our wonderful volunteers!

What is the impact and how do we measure it?

Thanks to your donations students and teachers now have reliable access to new hand-washing facilities and a great understanding of the importance of washing hands. But it doesn’t end there, in six months we will carry out interviews with students, teachers and parents to see the progress on the project!

Fighting COVID-19

The first case of COVID-19 in Tanzania was confirmed in March in Arusha and our SWASH campaign with its core message of washing hands with soap comes at an excellent time when we are fighting against this virus.

Washing hands with soap, in combination with social distancing, has emerged as a powerful tool to combat COVID-19 and although the local government does not share the number of coronavirus infections, Tanzania is not out of the woods yet. Therefore our project wants to reinforce the messages to encourage all to practice good hand hygiene and ensure that students and teachers can protect themselves against the spread of germs and coronavirus, but also other diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, and typhoid.

What the future holds

We are so excited that the handwashing stations are now up and running at three schools, being used daily by teachers and students. This project will be completed at Mzimuni and Marurani Primary school, we will keep you posted on their progress on our social media!

The completion of the handwashing stations enables other projects to function effectively, such as the recent construction of new toilet blocks that were built to enable effective and safe Menstrual Hygiene Management. 

Thankyou for helping us raise £10,305 in our emergency handwashing appeal to accelerate and complete this project, ensuring it was implemented quickly during these vulnerable times. If you would like to give please click on the button below!