Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation for School Children in
Zimbabwe
Executive Summary
The project is a community-based intervention to improve the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
situation in schools and surrounding communities in Bikita, a Cholera prone district of Zimbabwe. Action
AidA worked closely with government departments, local authorities and communities in tackling both
short term and medium to long term solutions to prevent cholera and other WASH related diseases.
The project will reach out to 1,200 households comprising 700 individuals and 500 school children in 5
schools and surrounding communities. Action AidA will use a comprehensive package that improved water
supply, sanitation, and health and hygiene based on successes and lessons learnt from previous
engagements with schools in other areas in Bikita district.
Specifically, the project focused on borehole rehabilitation, latrine and hand-washing rehabilitation and
construction and public health promotion sessions. A total of 771 households drawn from the schools
catchments benefitted from the new water points, and the newly-founded community health clubs have
834 members, all contributing to increased awareness and coverage of health and hygiene activities
within their communities.
The project was designed in close collaboration with Bikita district officials and with the community needs
in mind, and thanks to the vital support of the Isle of Man Overseas Aid Committee we were able to meet
the immediate water and sanitation needs in fifteen schools in Bikita.
1. Aims and Objectives
The project is a community-based intervention to improve the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) situation in
schools and surrounding communities in Bikita district, with the aim of reducing exposure to and the spread of cholera
and other water-borne diseases.
The objectives of the project are:
To rehabilitate 10 boreholes across 5 schools
To construct government approved Ventilation Improved Pit (VIP) latrines and adequate hand washing
facilities in our target schools
To improve education and conduct health and hygiene outreach activities in the target communities.
2. Project Activities
Activity 1: Rehabilitating boreholes to ensure school children have access to safe drinking water. The project will fulfil
its aim of rehabilitating 10 boreholes at 5 schools.
Activity 2: Constructing Ventilation Improved Pit (VIP) latrines to ensure pupils and teachers have adequate sanitation
facilities. The project will construct at least 10 blocks of Ventilation Improved Pit (VIP) latrines across 5 schools.
Activity 3: Constructing hand-washing facilities to ensure good hygiene practices among children. This will be
accomplished by constructing 10 hand-washing facilities (2 per school – including the provision of soap). All 5 target
schools will have hand-washing facilities and will be using soap for hand-washing.
Activity 4: Health and hygiene community outreach. The project will Form and train 5 community water committees
and 5 school health & hygiene clubs, to ensure school water and sanitation facilities are supervised and maintained long-
term and that health promotion messages are integrated into school and community life.
Activity 5: Facilitate participatory school and community health promotion activities to improve health
and hygiene practices to reduce the spread of disease
Each school participated in a variety of health and hygiene promotion activities that included clean-up
campaigns in the school surroundings, cleaning toilets and staging dramas and poems during school
assemblies. Health club competitions were held and prizes were awarded in support of the
ongoing hygiene awareness campaigns in schools.
Households within the immediate surroundings of the schools, especially those that shared water
points with the school children, were also engaged in health and hygiene promotion. Fifteen
village health workers were trained in PHHE and mobilised the communities into the community
health clubs. Fifteen community health clubs were established and households participated in
different health promotion activities.
The project further promoted WASH outreach through support for the National Sanitation Week that
was held in September 2011. School health club members were provided with t-shirts that had
health and hygiene messages, lobbying for zero open defecation and proper use of toilets.
3. Timeframe
The activities were conducted over a period of nine months, between July 2011 and April 2012.
In the original proposal it was expected that the project would be completed in seven months
but a number of challenges arose, such as a delay in the renewal of the memorandum of
understanding (MOU) between NGOs and the government. The delay resulted in the temporary
suspension of CARE’s operations in Bikita district in the month of February 2012. This was rectified in
March, and activities resumed. CARE had to conduct community reengagement outreach to rebuild
relations and rapport that had been disrupted by the suspension.
Budget of the Project
The total budget of the project is £26,000. ISAC is requesting a contribution of £16,000 from
Waterloo Foundation over a 12 month period.
