Duration: January 2021 – December 2022
Donor: UNICEF Office in North Macedonia
Implementer: Macedonian Civic Education Center (MCEC)
Goal: Safe and child-friendly water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in schools improves health, boosts education achievement, promotes gender equity and has a positive impact on communities.
Project description: There are still schools in North Macedonia that lack even basic water and sanitation facilities, and hygiene education programmes are often inadequate. With the COVID-19, hygiene in schools is more important than ever. Together with its partners, UNICEF is helping to address these gaps through a stronger emphasis on WASH in schools.
As part of the continuous improvement program for WASH and IPC in schools, UNICEF has developed an online, self-assessment tool for WASH in schools, integrating the existing WASH in school inspection program from the Institute of Public Health and the measures for COVID – 19 envisaged in the national protocol for schools’ reopening.
One of the main objectives of this project is to facilitate the hygiene improvement program using the WASH & IPC assessment & guidance tool, to motivate schools and municipalities to develop and implement their hygiene improvement plans and improve their handwashing facilities.
Results:
- Improved evaluations/self-assessment practices for WASH in schools;
- Improved school staff capacities for hygiene maintenance and infection control and prevention;
- More than 100 schools used the WASH self-assessment tool to develop and adopt school WASH improvement plans;
- 37 of the schools have improved installation of hand-washing stations in their facilities;
- Improved school staff capacities for hygiene maintenance and infection control and prevention;
- More than 200 participants of school staff trained in proper operation and maintenance of the handwashing stations and other WASH facilities.
