Stakeholder Engagement
Photo by Julian Spath/CRS
Our Work Overseas
Stakeholder Engagement
Engaging stakeholders is the crucial first step in the WASH-friendly school process and a fundamental requirement for ensuring sustainability. At the grassroots level, involving teachers, pupils, and parents is essential. Simultaneously, engaging education authorities at district and provincial levels is vital for their support in supervision, monitoring, and enforcing regulations. Formalizing these partnerships through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is imperative. This collaborative approach not only strengthens the initiative but also mobilizes local resources to support infrastructure enhancements, procure hygiene and cleaning supplies, and more, ensuring the project's success.
Sharing the results of the initial WASH survey with district-level stakeholders is imperative. It serves as a potent catalyst to ignite their commitment.
Key Concepts
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Unite for Action: Join forces with key stakeholders to assess, commit to change, plan for WASH improvements, and track progress together.
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Government's Vital Role: Government's duty: cultivate and enable policy framework for school hygiene, training teachers, oversight; funds for hardware come second.
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Formal Commitment: Schools need to endorse a statement outlining crucial actions for WASH-friendly status.
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Political Backing Matters: Without clear policies, standards, and budget commitment, WASH in Schools relies on external subsidies for survival.
Members of School WASH Committee composed of parents and teachers, Kom-Yilma project, Burkina Faso.
Our Step-by-Step Guide to Powerfully Engage Stakeholders
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Stakeholder Analysis: Begin by mapping out key stakeholders and categorize them using a matrix that rates their influence and interest levels. Refer to the stakeholder analysis in Chapter 2 of the ACCIM Social Accountability Guide.
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Conduct a Half-Day Meeting: convey key actors from various sectors to showcase local commitment to WASH-friendly schools. The objective of this gathering is to officially endorse the components of WASH-friendly schools and engage in discussions about the steps local schools must take to attain WASH-friendly status.
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Baseline Survey: Conduct a thorough survey of the WASH conditions in each targeted school. This survey will serve as the baseline against which progress can be measured.
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School WASH Committee Training: Establish and train a school WASH committee consisting of teachers, students, and parents. Refer to the Training Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Student Leaders for guidance and training resources from CRS Ghana below.
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Collaborative WASH Action Plan: Encourage collaboration among key stakeholders from the school community. See page WASH Action Planning.
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Student WASH Club Training: Provide training to students to establish a WASH club. Training resources for student WASH clubs are found at the Hygiene Lessons page.
Resources
USAID: WASH-Friendly School Basic Guide for School Directors, Teachers, Students, Parents and Administrators
This guide offers a process and practical tools for implementing the ‘WASH-Friendly School’ approach and should be used together with the WASH-Friendly Schools Training Guide.
Download - PDF
UNICEF Field Guide: Three-star Approach for WASH in Schools
The Three Star Approach for WASH in Schools is designed to improve the effectiveness of hygiene behavior change programs for children.
Download - PDF
CRS: ACCIM Social Accountability Guide (use for stakeholder analysis)
The Analyze, Convene, Contextualize, Implement, and Monitor (ACCIM) Social Accountability Guide for Accountable and Responsive Governance provides step-by-step guidance for program designers and practitioners working on standalone governance/social accountability or multisectoral initiatives.
Download - PDF
USAID: WASH-Friendly School Training Guide for Parents, Teachers and Student Leaders
This training guide is used to train groups of teachers, parents, and student leaders to implement the WASH-Friendly School process. It is intended to be used jointly with the WASH-Friendly School Basic Guide.
Download - PDF
Roles & Responsibilities of Teachers and PTA
Presentation from CRS Ghana outlining the roles and responsibilities of teachers and parents in implementing the WASH-Friendly School Approach.
Download - PDF
Training Modules for School WASH Committees
Training modules from CRS Ghana for Teachers, Parents and Student Representatives who form the School WASH Committee.
