This project aims to improve the health of 455,000 people in the most vulnerable communities in southern Mali. It addresses the need for safe water, sanitation facilities, and better hygiene in these communities. This need has intensified as a result of the humanitarian and political crisis following the coup d’état in March 2012. The project aims to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities and practices in 300 schools and 650 surrounding communities in the regions of Mopti, Koulikoro and Sikasso. Most communities in these three regions do not have water and sanitation facilities. As a result, the regions have a high rate of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, which is one of the major causes of illness and death among young children. The project activities include: building girls’ and boys’ latrines, hand-washing stations, and urinals at schools and equipping schools with hygiene kits; building wells and small-scale water supply networks for communities without access to safe water; promoting and supporting community-led awareness and education campaigns that aim to change the way people approach hygiene and sanitation; and improving the operation and maintenance of water facilities.
The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include : (1) vulnerable communities and school children in Mopti, Koulikoro and Sikasso fully benefit from gender sensitive water, sanitation and hygiene facilities; and (2) the capacity of all stakeholders involved in the implementation and monitoring of water, sanitation and hygiene interventions is strengthened.
Results achieved until the end of March 2015 include: (1) hygiene promotion campaigns to promote hand-washing and healthy hygiene practices have been launched in 343 schools, benefitting 57,249 girls and boys; (2) 651 villages have been mobilised under the “Community-Led Total Sanitation” campaign, which is a critical step to improving cleanliness and hygiene conditions in the communities; and (3) three local businesses have been trained in the construction of low-cost, manually drilled water points.
These results are contributing to improve the access to water and sanitation for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities in Mali. This project aimed to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities and practices in 300 schools and 650 surrounding communities in the regions of Mopti, Koulikoro and Sikasso. Activities focused on building girls’ and boys’ latrines and hand-washing stations in schools; building wells and small-scale water supply networks for communities without access to safe water; promoting and supporting community-led awareness and education campaigns that aim to change the way people approach hygiene and sanitation. The main achievements can be summarized as follows: Water Supply: Completion of 90 mechanical boreholes, 63 manual-drilled boreholes, and 40 small-scale water distribution systems. Note that 57 manual-drilled boreholes are ongoing in Mopti and Sikasso regions. Canadian funds will co-finance the realization of 21 new boreholes and 1 small-scale water distribution systems in the region of Koulikoro and 22 new boreholes and 24 small-scale water distribution systems in the Sikasso Region in 2016. Sanitation: Triggering of 831 villages of which 78 % have reached Open Defecation Free Status. Launch of a WASH Marketing Pilot project covering 136 villages. After successful completion of this pilot phase, UNICEF extended its partnership with PSI to touch an additional 1,000 villages including the remaining CLTS villages funded by the Canadian grant. WASH in Schools: The full WASH in Schools package has been implemented in 343 schools.
