Project Context
Due to the past three decades of wars and economic sanction, Iraq has experienced major changes in the infrastructure of the country. Many Iraqi children paid the price of the wars’ bills. As a consequence, their levels of health and education are in decline and are often ignored.
The education system in Iraq is facing complex challenges and demands; and many schools have experienced long run neglect and underfunding which has been pertinent since the many long years of war, economical sanction and conflicts. Amongst the absent or poorly functioning facilities are the schools toilets, which are a source of frustration for children during their school time. Feeling deprived from the necessary privacy and being exposed to health hazards, makes the students feel uncomfortable about the idea of attending school. Schools’ attendance will be improved through improving the standards of cleanliness which will lead to fewer cases of illnesses (such as gastroenteritis or flu) and fewer health problems (such as urine infections or constipation). The situation is of equal significance for the staff of the school.
Project Outline
With the help of the UNDP, HRF proposed the following activities to deal with the problem of deprived sanitary-units within schools by providing them with new, proper well ventilated sanitary units. These units have proper ventilation, ceramic toilet basin, full private access and usage for each toilet, hand washing, safe and clean drinking water taps, and proper lighting. Increasing the hand washing frequencies for children, decreases the possibility of transmitting pathogens within the students, and the presence of adequate sanitary units will promote a better education for the target students.
The project will build or rehabilitate sanitary units within 16 schools. The newly constructed sanitary units within each school will be of 4 toilets capacity. In schools where there are deteriorated sanitary units, there will be rehabilitation works for them. There will be also health awareness campaigns running in the targeted schools.
Additionally, in order to further encourage attendance at school, this project will provide teaching furniture (blackboards, tables chairs etc) as required to each of the 16 schools.
