Improving the Quality of Education Through Partnerships, Participation and Whole-School Development: A Case of the WASH Project in Zambia

Abstract

This chapter shows how the provision and integration of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) education in schools, through institutional partnerships, participatory approaches and whole-school development (WSD), can bring about significant gains in improving learning environments and learner achievement. The chapter focuses on the US Agency for International Development (USAID) - funded WASH in school programme - Schools Promoting Learning Achievement Through Sanitation and Hygiene (SPLASH) in Zambia. SPLASH is a 4 - year project involving over 616 schools and reaching 250,000 learners. The implementation of SPLASH in Zambia demonstrates that adequate and improved WASH facilities improve teacher-pupil contact time as well as enrolment and attendance, especially for adolescent girls as a result of improved menstrual hygiene management. However, this can only be possible through institutional partnerships, participatory approaches and whole-school development.