Following the Community Dialogue program, the Academy for Health Development in conjunction with the Osun State Education Board and other stakeholders have begun the implementation stage of the Starting Right at School (StaRS) project.
The first step was to carry out a Water and Sanitation NEEDS assessment of the three schools where intervention is to be carried out. This NEEDS assessment was done to examine the state of the water and sanitation hygiene facilities in the schools and to propose the most cost-effective sustainable interventions as allowed by the grant of $1000 for each school. The three schools assessed were Anglican Government Central Middle School, St Stephen’s Middle School and Oranmiyan Middle School, Osun state, Nigeria.
Some of the WASH challenges found in the schools included: a lack of proper waste management, faulty plumbing systems, improperly combined male and female toilet facilities, and faulty toilet facilities.
The interventions to be put in place to tackle these WASH challenges would be: provision of an incinerator to facilitate proper waste disposal system; repair/replacement of leaking pipes and toilet facilities as the case may be; training of school staff on the importance separating staff toilets from students’ and distinguishing male and female toilet facilities as a way of promoting healthy social and reproductive health and hygiene.
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