It’s ‘Back to School’ season!
Join WaterAid on Wednesday 2 September for a collaborative virtual event on ‘Ensuring safe, healthy schools during and beyond COVID-19: the vital role of sustainable hygiene, water and sanitation services.’
With lockdown easing and talks of schools reopening across the globe, WaterAid, together with co-conveners End Water Poverty, the WASH in Schools Network and the Global Campaign for Education, are determined to highlight the importance of improving hygiene, water and sanitation services in schools as a key priority for governments to address, and to enable safe learning environments for students and teachers in the context of COVID-19 and schools reopening.
Opening schools safely is an urgent priority, and clean water, toilets and hygiene are essential to enable that. The UN estimates over 2 in 5 schools globally do not have soap and water available to students – that’s 800 million children who lack soap and water at their school. This includes 335 million girls who are expected to attend schools without water and soap for washing their hands and for safe and dignified menstrual hygiene management. Governments, civil society organisations, development partners and schools, including parents’ groups must therefore act immediately to improve provision of hygiene services to enable safe, quality learning and working environments for children and teachers.
Kelly Ann Naylor, Associate Director, WASH, UNICEF and Frances Igwilo, Education Champion with Malala Fund from Nigeria will join the event, as well as representatives from Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, UNESCO, GIZ, Unilever, and other key partners from government, civil society, media and development spaces.
This virtual event will outline the global status of WASH services within schools, and highlight national and global action to address this issue in the context of COVID-19 and beyond. Actors from across sectors, countries and contexts will share perspectives on the opportunities and challenges, to shape a clear action agenda for domestic and international investments in this area.
Please register via Zoom here in advance, and join the webinar on Wednesday 2 September 2020 at 12:00-14:30 BST/WAT