CLEAN WATER, TOILETS AND GOOD HYGIENE BOOST SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND RETENTION IN OUNSOUNOU.

Although COVID-19 highlighted the importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of diseases, 10,640,000 of people in Cameroon, including about 4 million school children, do not have access to adequate water and basic toilets. The East region, one of the most affected by humanitarian crises, has fairly low indicators. According to the 2018 DHS survey, 31% of households in the region (compared to 25% nationally) do not have access to an improved drinking water source.

In the village of Ounsounou in the Ouli municipality, 15 km from the border with CAR, people had no access to drinking water for almost ten years because the only water point in the village had a breakdown and no one had been able to repair it. “Our women and children had to trek almost a kilometre into the bush to get water from the only village source, which was not very reliable and risked snake bites and broken legs,” says the village chief. A very difficult situation that Michel, the headmaster of the public primary school, also experienced. “I felt very sorry for my pupils when they had to fetch water by themselves. The distance they had to walk made them tired when they got back to class and many of them preferred not to come. In general, by 10am most of the students were back home. In the area there was also a high risk of abduction and two of our girls were raped when all they wanted was water for drinking and hygiene,” he recalls with a sad look on his face. For these girls, getting water to school was not the only challenge. The only latrine in the school could accommodate only two students at a time, and they were forced to get together with boys. “Because of the deviant behaviour of many boys towards the girls, many of them had to either drop out of school because of shame, or choose not to use the toilets anymore, which led to open defecation that made our school very dirty and polluted,” says Michel. Last school year, about 40 students, including more than 20 girls, dropped out of school before the end.

Today, as Michel talks about the suffering he and his students have gone through, he is filled with a sense of joy as the bell rings for recess and he sees his students running towards the water fountain installed in the school with five taps and soap next to each of them to wash their hands. On the other side, four of his students, all girls, are in a hurry to get to their newly built toilets, all smiling. Among them, 14-year-old Camille, who is enrolled in the fifth grade, says she feels very comfortable. “Our girls’ toilets are very clean with water to help us stay clean even when we are menstruating. Sometimes we spend a lot of time inside because my friends and I talk despite the separate walls. It’s the teacher who often comes to take us out of the room,” she says, laughing out loud as her fellow girls look on in amusement.

UNICEF, with its implementing partner the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), to address the water and sanitation problems of the people of Ounsounou, particularly vulnerable children, has worked with the Eastern regional Delegation for Water to build a drinkable water supply system with four tap stands installed in each neighborhood of the village to supply about 900 people, including the small neighboring villages. For the sustainability of these works, a management committee has been set up and each household contributes the sum of 300frs for the maintenance of these tap stands. In the school, five tap stands are available allowing the 289 students enrolled this year, both girls and boys, have access to drinkable water at any time of the day. UNICEF, in its concern to protect the students, particularly the girls, so that they can continue to go to school, and to maintain the continuity of learning, has also built a block of latrines with four cabins. This is a relief for the parents of the pupils, because with the permanent presence of water and specific toilets that now meet the normal hygiene conditions, the children remain in good health throughout their studies. “We can see that these achievements in our school and even in the community where these children come from, are increasing the attendance and retention of girls in school. This year, of the 141 girls enrolled, 139 of them, including the 8 refugees, continue to come to school every day. However, last year we had already lost more than 20 of them, whose water and toilet problems contributed to their dropping out,” says Michel, the school’s headmaster. This water supply point, which is the only one available in the village of Ounsounou, also allows four other neighbouring villages, each about 400m away, to come and get water during the opening hours of the tap stands.

With financial support from KOICA, UNICEF is working to ensure that 50,000 host communities and refugee children and their families have access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene throughout childhood, in their homes, schools, health facilities and communities.

In 2022 and since the beginning of this year 2023, UNICEF has already helped provide WASH services in more than 7 schools and 4 communities across the East Region. This means more children are able to learn safely without the risk of falling sick.

Thanks to community mechanisms, through awareness-raising sessions coordinated by the consortium of implementing partners, children and communities are informed about handwashing, menstrual hygiene, and the maintenance of water points. To sustain the facilities built in schools and communities, a set of management committees have been set up. By developing infrastructure and understanding, UNICEF is working to gradually improve WASH services in areas like Ounsounou where children are deprived of basic social services, so that these children and their families can flourish.