Rotary update 2013

Simavi / New Energy

ROTARY SCHOOL WASH ADOPTION PROGRAMME (RSWAP) 1313002

Introduction

The Rotary School Wash Adoption Programme (RSWAP) is an outcome of discussions between NewEnergy and Simavi regarding its role within the Northern Region WASH programme. NewEnergy plays solely a coordinating role within the Simavi group in the Ghana WASH Alliance (GWA) despite its capacity to both Coordinate and implement.

Simavi responded positively to the cause of NewEnergy additionally taking on an implementation role. In the scheme of things an initial funding of Twenty Thousand Euros (€20,000) was raised to enable NewEnergy pilot the process in three (3) schools in 2013, and possible expansion to more schools in 2014 when additional funds have been raised.

Vision

The vision of the project is to establish a long term relationship between schools in the Netherlands and their counterparts in Ghana.

Objective

In 2013 the objective is to initiate the process of building sustainable relationships between three (3) schools in Ghana and their counterparts in the Netherlands.

Planned Activities

The main activities include the following:

·	Community entry

·	Stakeholder meetings with School Management Committees (SMCs), Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs), Head Teachers and Teachers.

·	Baseline data collection on current status of facilities in the schools and the needed interventions.

·	Formation and training of School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Clubs in all three schools

·	Provision of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to needy schools

·	Development of Facility Management Plans towards Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of facilities in all three schools

·	Organize quiz competitions on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) within and among the schools

·	Collect baseline data on selected schools for 2014

·	Programme review, planning and reporting.

Over the reporting period the following activities were carried out:

i.	Community entry

ii.	Stakeholder meetings with SMCs, PTAs, Head Teachers and Teachers (report attached)

iii.	Meeting with Stakeholders of the 3 participating schools (report attached)

iv.	Baseline data collection on 2013 schools.

v.	Baseline data collection on schools for 2014.

Schools proceeded on the long vacation from July to September. The reopening of schools for the new academic year 2013/2014 in September means plans can be confirmed for construction in this dry season (October-December)

CHESHIE KINDERGARTEN (KG)

The Headmistress of Cheshei through hardwork and having won the confidence of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and School Management Committee (SMC) has opened a Kindergarten (KG) for small children in the school. The KG takes in children from four years. The current enrolment of the KG is 53 made up of 27 boys and 26 girls. Kindergarten 2 has 32 pupils consisting of 16 boys and 16 girls. These are awaiting to be promoted into Primary 1 in this new school year (2013/2014).

In order to serve these very young children, the school has requested that the latrine to be provided be modified into one for very young children for the use of the KG pupils who cannot use the existing school latrine.

We believe this request is well placed as the school management is demonstrating effective participation by ensuring that whatever is provided is useful as well as meet their requirements. Design and estimates are being done to ensure a quality facility is provided.

Challenges

The start of the programme coincided with the end of the school year when pupils were preparing to write their end of year examinations. This affected the pace of the start-up. With the long vacation over we are confident and very hopeful that all planned activities will be implemented by end of 2013.

The Way forward

With the resumption of schools this September the remaining activities shall be continued in order to achieve the set objective.

These include:

·	Formation and training of School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Clubs in all three schools

·	Provision of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to needy schools

·	Development of Facility Management Plans towards Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of facilities in all three schools

·	Organize quiz competitions on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) within and among the schools

·	Establish links with the Tamale Rotary Club

The table below shows the hardware interventions that we plan to provide to the 2013 schools:

Below also are pictures of the stakeholder session with SMCs, PTAs, Head Teachers and Teachers of the three (3) schools for 2013.

Also attached to this report are pictures of the current facilities in the schools for both 2013 and 2014.