DUBAI CARES’ WASH in School Initiative in Mali (DCWSIM)

1. Call to Action for WASH in Schools The Hague, May 24-25 2011 DUBAI CARES’ WASH in School Initiative in Mali (DCWSIM)

2. Program Overview & Vision The Dubai Cares’ Wash in Schools Initiative in Mali aims to provide a complete package of WASH components, including the provision of basic sanitation and environmental facilities, water and soap for hand washing, safe drinking water and hygiene promotion. Through the combined competencies of five implementing partners; UNICEF, CARE, Save the Children, Oxfam and WaterAid, the program seeks to bring 726 existing schools (among most vulnerable and populated) to minimum WASH standards for both hardware and software components. Additionally, the program will develop a comprehensive Monitoring Evaluation and Learning framework to document impacts on health and education performances, as well as the spread of best practices.

3. Key Facts & Coverage • Key Facts: • 726 primary schools • 224,455 beneficiaries • 4 year time-frame • $16M USD in total + $4M of matching funds • Supports the National Strategic Plan for the Promotion of WASH-in-Schools (SPPWIS) for the 2009 – 2013 period. • School Distribution: • UNICEF: 300CARE: 151Save the Children: 130Oxfam: 100WaterAid: 45

4. The Partnership • The Partnership has defined the common framework of interventions for the WASH-in-Schools Initiative by agreeing on the following: • a common goal, specific objectives and related indicators, • common standards for main achievements and • the scale of the initiative and the geographical allocation between organizations. • While ensuring an integrated approach and synchronized effort, each organization has become responsible for a thematic modality: • Communication for Development: UNICEF • Local Governance: Save the Children • Low Cost Technology – Sanitation: WaterAid • Low Cost Technology – Water Supply: Oxfam • Sustainability and CBO Capacity Building: CARE

5. The Management Structure Coordination unit within UNICEF / 2 international staff

6. Progress to Date… • Baseline needs assessment and work plan of interventions for all schools • Construction activities ongoing in a first batch of 230 schools: • Hygiene kits ordered and/or distributed= 230 kits • Latrine cabins under construction = 676 • Water points under construction / rehabilitation : 137 • Coordination with governmental policy & counterparts: • Validation of the Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Hygiene in Schools (4 ministries of Education, Water, Sanitation, Health) • Validation of the govt. led health in school policy • Coordination and launch of the initiative at regional levels

7. Progress to Date • Harmonization & Standardizing: • The MEL framework (common list of indicators/baseline questionnaire/ data collection and consolidation system) • The design of WASH facilities • The methodologies for hygiene promotion and support to local governance • Advocacy: • Integration of harmonized models/approaches in all WiNS interventions at national level (Govt. adopted standardization of hardware and software) • Leverage to develop another WASH in school program, DANIDA funded, targeting 350 schools by 2013 with the same objectives and working model of the DC WiNs

8. Lessons Learned… • Prerequisites • Validation of the MEL framework by an academic institution • Finalizing and validating the baseline survey and needs assessments • Framework for Coordination & Governance in Partnership • Defining the roles and responsibility during design phase • Institutionalizing the Steering Committee • Establishing common approaches & feedback mechanisms to pave the way for continuous learning & enhancements • Finding the appropriate balance between harmonized common approaches and individual distinct programs implementation (each partner has its own contract with DC) to obtain harmonized products but allow for innovations

9. Lessons Learned • III. When Planning interventions • Accounting for the needs of teachers when planning hardware components (i.e. ensure 1 latrine per male/female teachers or latrines will be locked) • Varying the soft approaches: each partner has a slightly different approach for the implementation of the software component of the program, which will allow for an interesting comparison as the project evolves. This will be monitored by the MEL unit to evaluate the pros/cons of the various approaches and will provide insight for the WASH sector. ( ex: PHAST vs. CHAST vs. School- led total sanitation etc..)

10. Lessons Learned • IV. Research study • Important to pool resources and target research questions that we can examine across the partnership, as opposed to each partner conducting their own “light” study which might not add much value to the sector • Value of partnership with Universities ( e.g. Emory and local Universities in Mali) to both build capacity and to ensure that the studies produced will be academically sound and relevant.

11. Thank You

12. Learning as we go: Next Steps