Water & Sanitation

"Toilets are a primary need for a safe, hygienic environment"
Bhim Prasad Subedi, Headmaster, Kalika Secondary School, Kaski

Rationale
Purpose
Outputs
Programme Details
Testimonies
Working Area
Current Status

Rationale

The lack of sanitation is one of the key problems facing Nepal. The problems that it causes are felt most pertinently by children. Almost 1 in 10 children in Nepal die before their fifth birthday, though many of these deaths could be prevented through basic sanitation facilities. It is estimate that over 80% of households in Nepal do not have what the United Nations declares as 'adequate levels of sanitation'.

In an educational context, a lack of sanitation will often be the difference between a girl attending or not attending school. For cultural reasons, it is acceptable for boys to go to the toilet outside, but not for girls. Thus constructing toilets can also have a positive impact in gender issues as well.

Purpose

To improve health and hygiene in communities through the physical construction of and education about toilets and water points.

Outputs

Overall, GAN has built or improved toilets in over 15 schools throughout Nepal. The majority of these have been at the primary level, where sanitation is often very poor indeed. In the ten schools where toilets were built in Solukhumbu district, water points providing clean, fresh water for the local people, were also constructed.

Programme Details

Many of the toilets constructed have been part financed by former volunteers. Co-funding has also been received from the British Embassy in Kathmandu, as well as the local communities who receive the benefits of them, of whom a contribution is requested.

Testimonies

Bhim Prasad Subedi, headmaster of Kalika Secondary School in Kaski, where one of our sanitation projects took place in 2003, commented on completion of the project that: 'toilets are a primary need for a safe, hygienic environment. Having several hundred students and not having any toilets was causing a huge problem as pupils were embarrassed by having to use an open toilet. Now the problem has been solved.

Working Area

GAN has improved water and sanitation facilities mostly in Solukhumbu district, but also in Kaski, Kathmandu and Lalitpur.

Current Status

The development of improved water and sanitation facilities will be considered in GAN's major 2004 project of providing infrastructural development in primary and secondary schools.

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