You Can Give Kids in India Clean Water

by Splash

Project Report | Oct 12, 2018
Namaste

By Molly Schulte | Development Assistant

Thanks to a summer campaign hosted by Omstars, MiiR, yoga star Kino McGregor, and 8,823 compassionate yogis who participated in the #HandstandMechanicsChallenge, Splash will ensure clean water flows from taps, kids are washing their hands with soap, and that students have access to safe and sanitary restrooms at two schools in one of the biggest, toughest cities on the planet – Kolkata, India. We will dramatically improve the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions for over 300 kids, thereby enhancing their dignity, health, and educational success!

Bastuhara Vidyapith Primary School and Jnanendu Siksha Niketan High School share a campus in Kolkata’s Tangra neighborhood. Tangra is being rapidly transformed by population growth and construction. The number of high-rises has increased and as a result, the property prices in this area are quite high, resulting in pockets of slums in between high-rise towers where many of the students live. The school campus is situated close to the Dhapa landfill – the biggest dump in the city, which operates at unsustainable rates today.

Both Bastuhara Vidyapith and Jnanendu Siksha Niketan lack adequate infrastructure to provide their students with clean water, clean hands, and clean toilets. While water is widely available at school, it is typically contaminated with e. Coli and other water-borne illnesses. In a 2015 independent citywide survey of 1,650 government schools in Kolkata, Splash discovered:

95% of Kolkata’s public schools had access to water
94% of schools lacked soap for handwashing
33% of toilets had no water for flushing
35% of toilets had no door or lock for privacy

To combat these alarming figures, Splash has developed an innovative WASH-in-Schools model that includes:

Installing the enabling infrastructure, including water filtration, water storage to ensure access, handwashing and drinking water stations, and child-friendly sanitation facilities.
Delivering behavior change programmes for children and adults. This includes training focal teachers through an engaging, activity-based curriculum and supporting them to instruct student hygiene clubs on how to engage their peers in positive behaviours such as handwashing.
Creating a WASH ecosystem to ensure programme sustainability. This includes co-investment from schools and government, operations and maintenance training for school janitorial staff, school incentives through recognition programs, engaging parents through soap drives, and building local supply chains to ensure availability of spare parts and repair services.
Conducting routine monitoring and evaluation of project sites. To ensure continuous learning and program improvement, Splash conducts pre and post-intervention assessments at each school, followed by five years of routine monitoring, twice per year.

Because of companies like MiiR, members of the Global Giving community, and all the caring, kind, and motivated yogis out there, together, we will be able to help hundreds of more kids stay healthy, excel in school, and unlock their full potential. With your support, kids at schools like Bastuhara Vidyapith and Jnanendu Siksha Niketan can thrive! We've already reached 10% of government schools in Kolkata, and are on track to reach 100% full coverage by 2023, we hope you will join us on this journey.

Links:

Omstars, MiiR, and Splash!

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Jul 13, 2018
The story has many needs, but water is first

By Ayatam Simeneh | Former Partner Support Manager

Contributed by Ayatam Simeneh, former Partner Support Manager, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

"I travelled to Splash’s office in Kolkata, India to be part of the Program Quality Summit with Splash staff from the U.S., Nepal, India, and Ethiopia.

The purpose of the Summit was to connect colleagues from across the globe, align around the importance of data quality and standardized methods for collecting and using data to improve Splash’s programs, and to create program quality champions within each country office.

As part of the summit, we each had the opportunity to visit Splash schools across Kolkata to see what is different from and similar to our own programmatic contexts.

Working in Addis Ababa government schools, every day I encounter school children that fill my heart with hope. The same was true in humid, hot Kolkata, where temperatures reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit). Schools in Kolkata, like Addis, have many needs, including water.

Among the four schools I visited, Jagabandhu Primary School was conducting a soap drive event where every student in the school brought one bar of soap to supply the school for one year. One by one, hundreds of students placed their soap in a bucket, while the other students watched.

At Nehru Vidyatan Primary School, students ages five and six welcomed me and my colleagues, singing songs about hygiene, cheering us with enthusiasm, and giving us the best of what they had. Here, classrooms are small, and the neighborhoods are crowded and lack sufficient infrastructure, but, thanks to Splash, there are water and handwashing stations at these schools.

These kids are born to thrive and deserve everything that all kids need. Amidst this landscape, there is bright hope and it’s joyous to see that we “Splashers” are bringing clean water and smiles to these beautiful kids."

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Apr 17, 2018
Improved hygiene through training of teachers

By Molly Schulte | Development Assistant

Teachers at a training in Kolkata

It’s an exciting time for Splash in India! Sarva Shiksha Mission (SSM), Kolkata (also known as the Department of School Education, West Bengal), asked Splash to conduct the city-wide teacher training with our hygiene curriculum. The trainings include over 1,800 teachers from 1,521 schools, and over 100 government staff from Siksha Bandhu.

This is a watershed moment for Splash in India – it is our hope that over time, this will herald in a new era for Splash with the government (and in the eyes of the teachers, headmasters, and school inspectors). The 38 scheduled trainings began in February and will stretch to the end of June. Our team in Kolkata has reported that the early trainings had great attendance and participation.

The goal of the Splash Hygiene Education program is to change the behaviors of students through applying proven behavioral theories and best practices to fit within the context of urban schools. The primary targeted behavior is handwashing with soap, however the program also focuses on personal hygiene, menstrual hygiene management, drinking safe water, environmental hygiene, and domestic hygiene.

The Splash Behavior Change Framework relies on three core programmatic approaches. The first is making changes to the physical school environment. The second is influencing children through cognitive approaches. The third is influencing and leveraging communities of adults through shifts in policies and norms. For any of this programming to be successful, It is critical for our hygiene curriculum to be understood and supported by focal teachers and educators.

This opportunity presented to Splash by SSM Kolkata is an incredible statement towards the regard the government has towards our teacher training program that we have this new role and responsibility. It is Splash’s hope that we will begin to have this sort of role in other key countries where we work in the years to come!

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