USAID and UNICEF Dissemenate Best Practices from Successful School Sanitation Program

April 04, 2008

Jharkand students singing a song they wrote about the School Water and Sanitation Towards Hygiene and Health - Putting Lessons Learned to use Project (SWASTHH PLUS) during a meeting held today in New Delhi to disseminate lessons learned from the successful project. Their song describes the new hygiene and sanitation habits taught to them under the project implemented through a partnership between USAID, UNICEF, the Government of India and the state governments of Jharkhand and Karnataka. Photo credit: Heather Sullivan, USAID/India

NEW DELHI – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) celebrated the success of their five-year partnership to enhance environment safety and hygiene conditions in thousands of schools across Jharkhand and Karnataka. The close-of-project dissemination meeting was held today at the UNDP Conference Hall in Delhi.

Beth Hogan, USAID Deputy Director, noted during her remarks that, “Lack of proper water and sanitation facilities in primary schools is often a major contributor to high drop out rates and poor attendance, especially among girls. Children enroll in greater numbers, attend school more regularly, remain in school for more years, and learn more effectively when their schools offer clean water, toilets, and a secure environment.”

Over the period from September 2003 – February 2008, the School Water and Sanitation Towards Hygiene and Health – Putting Lessons Learned to use (SWASTHH-PLUS) program, worked in partnership with the Government of India and state governments to improve school facilities, providing sanitary school conditions and hygiene lessons for almost a million children in more than 5500 public schools. The program also incorporated practical aspects of health, hygiene and environment into classroom and extra curricular activities.