The Parma Ministerial Declaration for WASH in schools in EECCA region Sascha Gabizon, Executive Director, WECF Margriet Samwel, Coordinator Water Programme, WECF For those of you who do not know us, WECF was created at the eart summit in 1992 to give a voice and organisation to the women major group,- one of the 9 key groups in agenda 21 to help implement sustainable developmetn. We started as a network in West and East Europe, and we have now gronw to on international network with more than 100 member organisations in over 40 countries, implementing projects locally iwth with more than 50,000 people, and bringing the lessons learned into national , and international policy processes. We co-chair the women major gruop for UNCSD, Rio+20, UNEP, UNFCCC and CBD. In the last 5 years our sanitation and water projects have been funded by teh netherlands ministry of dev coop, german min of environment and foundations. We have focussed on Afghanistan, central asia, caucasus and eatern europe, which are forgotten region in this regard. We have focussed on integrated sollutions, which improve women and children health , are affordable , can be locally build and locally upscalled. In our programme 700 individual household toilets for 5000 users were buildt, in villages without centralized water supply or sanitation. We have tested many different systems of financing these toilets. And in our assessment report which we are now finalizing, we come to the conclusion, that sanitation is a serious thing, and is best done by professionals, even in very poor villages. We have seen best successes in Kyrgystan, where the WB and ADB had already supported NGOs to create local water user associations. These associations are already accepted and democratically elected, are gathering monthly fees from their members...and these are the best placed to also provide sanitation services, and energy services. Look at france with ist 30,000 unconnected communities, the individual households are NOT capable of maintaining their sanitation sysstem, and their are continuous problems of the septic tanks from one house, pollutiong the drinking water well from the neighbour. We believe that it is an error to think that just any household should be responsible for ist own sanitation and waste water. But this is NOT what I want to give you a short presentation about, I want to speak about another issue, which wECF and a coalition of partners, inc luding GTO, BORDA and probably other partners , woudl like to focus on , and that is shared sanitation, in parrticualr, shcool sanitation.

Content: Sanitation in EECCA region Parma Ministerial Declaration Lessons from 10-country School Sanitation program Ideas for implementing Parma declaration

est. 30 million people do not have safe sanitation in EU alone, how many in EECCA? Uzbekistan Armenia Ukraine School toilets rural areas: Far away, smelly, insects Covered in excreta No hand-washing No privacy, no waste-bins Groundwater pollution

Current Situation School Sanitation in EECCA region Many schools build without toilets Hardware often unsustainable Software not provided “shit smeared over the walls” “cleaning materials ‘reused’” “girls harassed on way to toilet” “girls ‘keep it up’ all day” “blather/urinary track infections”

Sanitation in EECCA region Parma Ministerial Declaration Lessons from 10-country School Sanitation program Ideas for implementing Parma declaration Float some first ideas, developed with women enviro and devel orgs, my cochair from the south, trade union women

Parma Declaration on Environment and Health Ministerial declaration endorsed by 53 Member States attending the 5th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in Parma, Italy on 10-12 March 2010. Consist of: 1) Ministerial Declaration and 2) Commitment to Act http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_fil e/0011/78608/E93618.pdf

Parma Declaration on Environment and Health Through the declaration the participating governments agreed to implement national programmes to provide equal opportunities to each child by 2020 by ensuring access to safe water and sanitation, opportunities for physical activity and a healthy diet, improved air quality and an environment free of toxic chemicals

Parma Ministerial Declaration 3.We are committed to act on the key environment and health challenges of our time. These include:(b)the health risks to children and other vulnerable groups posed by poor environmental, working and living conditions (especially the lack of water and sanitation)

Parma Ministerial Declaration 4.We will address these challenges by setting up or strengthening existing mechanisms or structures that can ensure effective implementation, promote local actions and ensure active participation

Parma Ministerial Declaration 5.We will intensify efforts to develop, improve and implement health and environmental legislation

Parma Ministerial Declaration 5.We will intensify efforts to develop, improve and implement health and environmental legislation 6.We will ensure that youth participation is facilitated

Parma Ministerial Declaration 8. We encourage international stakeholders, including international financial institutions, and the European Commission to offer further scientific, political, technical and financial assistance

Parma Ministerial Declaration 10.We endorse and will implement the „Commitment to act“ and the goals and targets included therein. That document is an integral part of this Declaration.

Parma Commitment to Act A. Protecting children’s health 1.We reconfirm our commitment to prioritized actions under the regional priority goals (RPGs) in the Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) as indicated below. We will strive to attain the targets in the RPGs as set out below. Regional Priority Goal 1: Ensuring public health by improving access to safe water and sanitation

Parma Commitment to Act A. Protecting children’s health 1. ii.We will strive to provide each child with access to safe water and sanitation in homes, child care centres, kindergartens, schools, health care institutions and public recreational water settings by 2020, and to revitalize hygiene practices.

Sanitation in EECCA region Parma Ministerial Declaration Lessons from 10-country School Sanitation program Ideas for implementing Parma declaration Float some first ideas, developed with women enviro and devel orgs, my cochair from the south, trade union women

Lessons Learned from 10-country WECF sanitation program “Soviets made pit latrines obligatory in the 1930s - in some cases punished with prison”

50 sustainable school toilet-buildings in 10 countries since 2003 - e.g. instead of fossil fuel subsidies 16.000 pupils and teachers using WECF school-toilets Total direct cost per user: 37 euro (average)

All 50 school toilet buildings use Dry Urine Diversion Systems Because in target villages: No central water supply to flush No central sewage system Benefits: More hygienic No smell - can be indoor (climate!) Reuse of nutrients Drinking water source protection - e.g. instead of fossil fuel subsidies

Best Practices Hardware Indoor toilets where-ever possible • Separate rooms for boys and girls Special teenage girls facilities (depends on culture) for girls during menstruation period • Privacy: doors can be closed/locked Squatting slaps - not sitting seats (hygiene) • Proper smell prevention • Hand wash basin and simple grey water treatment • High quality material for long term sustainability Big urine tanks for 6 months storage time (hygiene) • Footprint near the squatting slab so children know where to stand.

First outdoor UDD school Toilet for 200 pupils in Romania : 8 years in use, total cost € 6000 Trainings Construction Urine storage

First indoor school toilet for 350 pupils + teachers in Armenia: €20,000 Waterless urinals at different heights Squatting toilet with urine diversion Urine storage tanks in the basement Built by AWHHW, Quelque Chose architects and TUHH Wash basins and the toilet care-taker

More best practices + smell prevention

More best practices + re-use

Best Practices ‘Software’ Agree in advance on responsibilities and financial contribution of the school Employing a “care-taker” is key Obtain in advance approvals needed (authorities for education, architecture, health, environment, emergency/utilities, fire, electricity) Hygiene education (PHAST*) for pupils, teachers and parents Usage, operation and maintenance of facilities trainings for pupils, teachers and personnel “how to...” educational posters in the toilet Training on the re-use of nutrients (or energy) * Participatory Health And Sanitation Transformation (WHO)

Check-list school MoU Who cleans the toilet? Who collects ash/saw dust for the toilet? Who checks the toilet on technical defects? Who is responsible for operation and maintenance? What to do when something is broken? How should the O&M be financed? Who develops an education strategy? How will awareness be created among the school children? How can the school guarantee that the toilet will be properly used?

WECF Impact Assessment First of its kind, gives an indication 3 step methodology: Questionnaire for female and male pupils 31 (29 boys) questions related to Acceptance - Dignity - Gender Health - Absenteeism - Menstruation (girls only) Absenteeism “class book” survey Focus group discussion (only with pupils, no teachers present) Sample 10 schools with UDD toilets: total 361 pupils 8 reference schools with pit latrine: total 245 pupils 5 countries: Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan

Absenteeism Survey - maybe an indication

Pupils Focus Group Discussions some preliminary results On new toilets: All children are very satisfied about new toilets because of greater comfort (clean, warm, no smell, hand-washing facilities, short distance etc.) Especially girls experience benefits because of greater privacy and washing facilities On pit latrines: Especially girls avoid using the pit latrines In Central Asia girls skipped school during their menstruation period because of the bad pit latrine In Central Asia children went to home during classes to go the toilet because of the bad pit latrine In all countries some girls use latrines during classes to have more privacy

School Sanitation: Global Priority Lessons from 10-country program Hardware: best and worst practices Software: best and worst practices Ideas for 5 yr drive Float some first ideas, developed with women enviro and devel orgs, my cochair from the south, trade union women

School Sanitation - Should be a global Priority does not count for Millennium Dev Goals excluded from JMP is core responsibility of government is essential for girls school attendance “discriminating” factor for girls needs innovative financial mechanisms can be a win-win deal should be policy priority

General reflections on School Sanitation - ‘Hardware’ Choice of ‘hardware’ does matter Indoor toilets with re-use systems are good solution for non-piped areas Need to be added to national codes (construction, hygiene, agriculture) Not more expensive then VIP pit-latrines Potential income generation from re-use, energy - can cover maintenance costs Potentially saves costs drinking water treatment

General Recommendations School Sanitation - ‘Software’ No ‘hardware’ works without ‘software’ Hygiene needs to be taught (also in EU) Cleaning of toilets is not a habit amongst latrine users: needs to be learned Incentives and education for pupils against vandalism Teenage girls need to feel ‘safe’ regarding menstruation - waste baskets, doors that lock, own toilets Inclusive sanitation (e.g. children with disabilities) Pupils should feel ownership, know its their right

Link Parma Implementation and 5 yr Sustainable Sanitation Drive Link to implementation of UN GA 2010 resolution “human right to water and sanitation” Call on all countries to set targets for achieving 100% safe school sanitation Define “sustainable” sanitation (5 SuSanA criteria) Establish principle: “no toilet - no school” Post-2015 inclusion of public sanitation in MDGs WASH in Schools: focus of 1 of the 5 years!

5 Yr Drive - Financing School Sanitation Funding priority from public budget “Total sanitation” incentive approach does not work for public buildings Global School Sanitation Fund (e.g. DK, EBRD) Aim: pilots in each country - examples convince All schools in a few countries (Moldova, Lesotho) Incentives for partnerships including civil society Communicate the successes

Our plans: extend Guidelines Best Practices School Sanitation ? Guidelines with best practices for school sanitation hardware and software Baseline of current school sanitation (e.g. Moldova) Comparison of different hardware options Capacity building tools for re-use sanitation systems Educational and training tools on hygiene, use, maintenance Possible partners....

Other areas ? Draw on work done within PWH Capacity building online tool on small scale sanitation (with Germany and Czech republic) Guidelines on public participation in sanitation decision making (with Romania) Guidelines on equitable access (with France)

Thank You