Honduras Initiatives

INTEGRATED COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL PROGRAMMING

(School Water Sanitation and Hygiene Education plus Community Impact—SWASH+)

Water For People is rethinking the way conventional school programming is implemented. Traditionally, school programs have not involved the surrounding communities because schools are frequently the weakest part of communities: teachers are often underpaid and overloaded with multiple activities; school administrations are weak and have a limited or nonexistent funding base; and teachers who have received hygiene education training often leave for better schools. As a result, programs focused on schools tend to have the greatest sustainability challenges.

In Honduras, Water For People treats schools as part of the wider community. It engages local leaders and organizations to build hand-washing stations and toilets in schools. Each school intervention is combined with solutions and education in the community, to help ensure that good hygiene practices learned in schools are reinforced at home. Responsibility for project implementation, finance, and maintenance of the school water and sanitation system is placed on the community and local government, thus taking the burden off the often overwhelmed and underfunded schools. In areas where water and sanitation infrastructure already exists, Water For People–Honduras works with the community to reinforce health and hygiene education messages and system management.

Rather than directly manage the construction of water supply, toilets, and hand-washing stations for schools, Water For People–Honduras directs the funds (usually supplemented by municipal government funds) to parent teacher associations (PTAs) to manage. Water For People–Honduras also provides training and mentoring on topics such as the basics of financial management and project administration. These skills translate into tools that community members can continue to use as they further develop their communities.

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

Water For People–Honduras has led Water For People as an organization in Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). Before working in a community, Water For People–Honduras delineates the watershed basin to better understand the available water resources and the impact usage will have on surrounding communities. Great emphasis is placed on sanitation and ensuring that communities with households above the water source have proper latrines to avoid contamination of the water. Significant effort is also made to protect the community water source and to educate community members about the individual impact they have on water quality in their community. Water For People–Honduras is also working with the municipalities and communities to establish water resource management manuals and achieve legally protected status for water sources.