Promote Clean Water & WaSH to Girls in Nepal

Dear Supporters,

At 93%, primary school enrolment for girls in Nepal is high. However, girls are failing to make the critical transition to secondary level and less than 60% of girls enrol in secondary school (UNESCO 2017). Secondary enrolment rates are even lower in the poorest regions. When girls do enrol, they are often absent and drop-out rates are high. 

In mountainous, ultra-poor Gulmi District, attendance rates are 84% for boys and just 71% for girls (GDSWP 2016-2020). While multiple factors lie beneath these alarming statistics, time and again girls across Gulmi tell us the same thing; they cannot attend school when menstruating. Countless schools in this beautiful and remote region sit high above their water source. There is no water in the taps and no way of flushing a toilet. For several days a month, young girls who already face a cultural battle to enrol in school, are forced to sit at home while their male peers continue to attend. 

A solution is within our grasp. We can transform this situation by making education more inclusive for 2,805 vulnerable children attending nine schools in Gulmi, with grant funding of £280,836K, local government match-funds of £61,111K and a community contribution of £33,096K (a total project cost of £375,043K). 

We will support three schools without water access to install solar-powered water pumping, bringing access to a clean, affordable and sustainable water supply. It will also construct and install hygiene and sanitation facilities specifically designed to meet the needs of girls, boys and children with disabilities in these three schools, and a further six schools lacking adequate facilities. The project also includes a hygiene and sanitation awareness campaign which will be driven, designed and delivered by young people involved in our project. This project will ensure no girl has to miss school just because she is menstruating and no child with a disability is excluded for want of an accessible toilet, not just for those children attending these schools now, but well into the future. 

Beyond the 2,805 pupils we aim to reach,  We will benefit the 160 strong teaching staff of the schools and 540 community members in the immediate vicinity of the schools who will gain access to water in their homes. A further 12,623 people will benefit indirectly, through education on WaSH. The one-off cost per direct beneficiary is £84 but this project will provide benefits over a period up to 20 years, which equates to a life-time cost for the equipment and facilities installed of £4.20 per person reached. 

The Solution 

A joined-up approach combining solar-powered water provision, accessible WaSH in schools’ infrastructure, and a behaviour change campaign. 

We intend to build the capacity of nine schools to harness solar energy to pump water from their water source up to their school, where it will be filtered and distributed to new or newly renovated taps, toilets and newly installed menstrual hygiene management facilities. This critical infrastructure work will be accompanied by a girl-led hygiene and sanitation awareness-raising campaign. 

The project will target Gulmi district, a mountainous region 400km from the capital city where 45% of the land lies on steep slopes. We selected this region in collaboration with the government as girls here are at high risk of dropping out when transitioning between primary and secondary education due to lack of water and poor school WASH facilities. 

This is an ideal time to act. The district goal of total sanitation with sustained behaviour change by 2020 includes all schools having adequate child and disability friendly toilet facilities. 

We would like to thank all of our supporters, fundraisers and donors, without you none of this would be possible.

With Gratitude,

Nepal Education

Links:

• Website