Towards effective programming for WASH in schools: a manual on scaling up programmes for water, sanitation and hygiene in schools.

This manual is an update of the earlier, popular manual entitled Towards better programming : a manual on school sanitation and hygiene education, published by UNICEF and IRC in 1998. It contains many examples, most of which are drawn from a UNICEF-IRC pilot study for School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) carried out in six countries (Burkina Faso, Colombia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Vietnam, and Zambia). This pilot programme took place from 1999-2003, with a post-intervention assessment in 2006. Other information and examples reflected in this manual are drawn from other UNICEFsupported programmes, notably in Malawi and India. The manual deals with school water, sanitation and hygiene education. It describes many of the elements needed for scaling up programmes for water, sanitation and hygiene in schools while ensuring quality and sustainability. The manual is meant for government, UNICEF and other (I)NGO staff responsible for programming WASH in Schools. It is not meant to be read from cover to cover but is meant to be ‘dipped into’, to provide information and references on specific topics and experiences from other countries.

Recently UNICEF has noted that the term SSHE (School Sanitation and Hygiene Education) may not sufficiently reflect the water supply aspects of the programme. Therefore from this point onward in the text, the manual talks of WASH in Schools (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) rather than of SSHE.