So remote and inaccessible are some rural schools in Central America that in one case in El Salvador, materials for constructing water and sanitation facilities were transported on the backs of mules due to lack of vehicle access to the community. Based in part upon the SWASH+ project in Kenya and the experiences of the partners of the Millennium Water Alliance (MWA) in Central America, the SWASH+ Central American project was established in February 2008 to address the water, sanitation, and hygiene needs of rural schools such as these with little or no access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

The SWASH+ MWA partners are currently targeting 144 schools and more than 15,000 students in 26 municipalities in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. But the vision of SWASH+ in Central America extends beyond bringing water, sanitation and hygiene to 144 schools. Education is both a human right and a children’s right.  UNICEF,the Pan-American Health Organization, and the SWASH+ Central America MWA partners have reached consensus that provision of adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions in schools is fundamental to that right.  From this perspective, water, sanitation and hygiene education should be seen as necessary to upholding children’s rights to health, education, and quality of life with corresponding legal and moral commitments for each country, the international community, and the general population.

Early this year, program partners worked together to develop a concept paper to guide expansion of the program to reach all rural public schools in Central America in need of interventions in water, sanitation, and hygiene education. Currently, the SWASH+ MWA partners are forming an alliance with UNICEF, the Pan-American Health Organization, and Plan International to develop a strategy for full school WASH coverage in Central America.

Typical interventions in SWASH+ Central America include installation or rehabilitation of infrastructure for clean water, leading to an often-dramatic change for the schools where once this was non-existent. The infrastructure required by each school depends upon local needs and contexts but has included gravity-fed water systems, rainwater harvesting, or perforated wells with electric pumps. It always includes handwashing stations. Sanitation work has involved constructing or repairing school latrines, school wastewater treatment systems, toilets, urinals and access ramps from classrooms to sanitary facilities.

In all schools, SWASH+ MWA partners also train teachers and parents on hygiene topics such as the importance of handwashing at appropriate times throughout the day and appropriate water treatment methods.  Students subsequently receive training from their teachers in schools and in many cases also at home from their parents.

The value in the SWASH+ approach in Central America lies not only in the physical improvements in schools but in the process itself. In most cases, parents and community associations such as school boards and water boards are involved in the planning of construction, selection of workmen, and supervision of the work. Sometimes community members provide labor themselves. Though more demanding for the partners, this consultative process grafts the project into the community and makes it more likely that parents are satisfied with the changes, will work hard to ensure long-term success, and even continue to manage other activities and community projects.

SWASH+ MWA partners also work with the Ministries of Education, Health, Water, Families, and Rural Development of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.  Departmental level officials of these Ministries are actively involved, as well as municipal governments and local school district officials.  Local NGOs have been involved in Guatemala and Honduras, as the strategy of CRS is to implement through its vast network of local partners (in SWASH+ in Guatemala through Cáritas Verapaz and in Honduras through the Central Water Board Committee of the Department of Lempira).  Water For People's work focuses on strengthening their key local partners - municipal governments.