"Saaf haathon mein hi

hain dum! "

THE GROUP HANDWASHING WITH SOAP
PROJECT IN GREATER MUMBAI’S

MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS

A project by
Citizens Association for Child
Rights

With technical support from

United Nations Children’s Fund,
Maharashtra

1
© Citizens Association for Child Rights
August 2017
0
CONTENTS
Glossary – 2
Introduction – 3
Background –4
Context – 5
Planning – 6
The Go-Ahead – 6

Curriculum – 6

Orientation – 7

Training – 7

Infrastructure Survey – 7

3-Star Approach – 8

Structure and Chain of Command – 10

Role of Stakeholders – 10

Highlights of t he Intervention – 11
Key Messages – 14

Components of the Strategy – 15

Timeline and Milestones – 16

Reach – 17
Impact – 18
Looking Back – 19
Challenges, Lessons & The Way Forward – 19

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 GLOSSARY
CACR: Citizens Association for Child Rights

DHaAL: Daily Handwashing for an Ailment-free Life

HM: Headmaster/Headmistress

HWWS: Handwashing with soap

NGO: Non-governmental organisation

RTE: Right to Education Act

SBM: Swachh Bharat Mission

SBSV: Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya

SDGs: Sustainable Development Goals

SMCs: School Management Committees

UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund

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 INTRODUCTION
very child in India – be it in the villages or the cities - is entitled to free and

E compulsory education up to the age of 14 years by the Right to Education Act,

2009. But education without the right
to adequate Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
In India, 47% of the 1.1 million children under the age of
(WASH) facilities in schools, without 5 die from diarrhoea. These deaths could have been
awareness and the practice of good hygienic prevented merely by handwashing. - UNICEF

habits can have adverse implications on

learning outcomes. The absence of essential WASH services and the lack of the practice of
habits like washing hands with soap often lead to a host of diseases like diarrhoea,
gastroenteritis, jaundice and cholera. Frequently falling ill can affect a child’s physical and
cognitive development, which in turn interferes with the child’s right to access quality
learning in school. This is why the RTE Act also states that in addition to free and
compulsory education, all children must be provided with safe drinking water and separate
toilets for boys and girls in school.

It is not just the RTE Act but also the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that
India is committed to achieving, which envisage adequate and equitable sanitation and
hygiene for all. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, the SDGs include hygiene
alongside water and sanitation. Goal 6.2 in particular talks about safely-managed sanitation
services including a handwashing facility with soap and water.

Keeping this in mind, the Citizen’s Association for Child Rights (CACR)1, a Mumbai-
based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works across issue areas in municipal
schools in the city, decided to stage an intervention in the urban setting. The objective? To
bring about a behavioural change in children for life by inculcating the habit of washing their
hands not just with water but soap as well, at critical times, in order to prevent diseases. The
intervention was called the Handwashing with
Soap (HWWS) Project. It was supported by
Bringing about a change in one daily habit like HWWS the Maharashtra Field Office of the United
can improve the health of children and facilitate an
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). CACR
ailment-free engagement with school
took inspiration from some aspects of

1
Citizen’s Association for Child Rights is a registered non-profit organisation as per Section 8 of the Companies
Act, 2013. CACR is a network of like-minded citizens from various walks of life. Its members include activists,
students, retired individuals, doctors, engineers and artists. Members are united by their passion to work on
issues related to children’s rights, with a special focus on education and healthcare for children in municipal
schools. For more details, visit http://www.ngocacr.com

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UNICEF’s own experience in WASH in rural Maharashtra, where the latter primarily works.
The Daily Handwashing for an Ailment-free Life (DHaAL) project – in line with Swachh
Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya (SBSV) guidelines – had been successfully carried out by
UNICEF in partnership with the Government of Maharashtra in 300 selected state-run
schools in Jalna and Aurangabad districts, reaching approximately 45,000 children. Like
DHaAL, the HWWS project by CACR was based on the premise that bringing about a
change in one daily habit could improve the health of children and facilitate an ailment-free
engagement with school. The change being 1. Using soap while washing hands 2. At two
critical times – before meals and after using the toilet.

BACKGROUND: How it all began

T
he year was 2014. It was the month of October. Two significant political
developments took place. One at the
national level, the other at the state level in
UNICEF's DHaAL PROJECT
Maharashtra. At the national level, on 2nd October
2014 India’s newly-elected Prime Minister Mr.
Narendra Modi announced the Swachh Bharat Used stories and games to inculcate
Mission (SBM) and his vision for a Clean India by HWWS habit

2019. With the announcement, sanitation instantly Worked through a network of

became a buzzword across the country. The SBSV trainers and youth facilitators

campaign, an off-shoot of SBM, took the message Developed cost effective,

sustainable and replicable
to the school level. Three weeks later,
handwashing facilities
Maharashtra’s new Chief Minister Mr. Devendra
Created incinerator facilities for
Fadnavis took his oath of office, determined to
sanitary pads in one residential
realise the dream of an open defecation-free (ODF) school
Maharashtra. In Mumbai, the Chief Minister called
Advocated with the district
on municipal schools to organise a Balak administrative machinery for
Swachhata Mahotsav (Cleanliness Week) to consistent availability of soaps
promote critical messages around WASH. Chakala Created a system for maintenance of
Municipal School in suburban Andheri (East) was toilets through capacity building

among those where teachers brainstormed about a Involved key stakeholders such as
possible awareness generation programme. As HMs, teachers, SMC members, Child
Cabinets, Meena Raju Manch &
there was no specific existing activity at the school Mothers’ Groups
level geared towards this issue area, the school

4
 turned for advice to an NGO that was conducting a
computer literacy programme in its premises. And CACR believes that by catching them young, the
this is how CACR came into the picture and HWWS project can help urban slum children
implemented the first-of-a-kind WASH project in adopt good hygiene practices from an early age

urban schools in the Municipal Corporation of

Greater Mumbai (MCGM).

“Sanitation at the school level was interpreted as merely ‘School ki safaai’, that is,
garbage clearance. We suggested that the school go beyond elementary and token activities
to introduce the concept of handwashing with soap. The idea was received well. We
conducted a few activities to promote this practice during Balak Swachhata Mahotsav. We
covered 1100 students. The activities were from UNICEF’s DHaAL module. These were a
precursor to the more elaborate HWWS project that later made inroads into the municipal
school space. As Sanitation Week was declared a success and the response to the activities
was tremendous, we at CACR saw scope for a more long-term, sustainable behavioural
change programme,” says Dr. Richa Singh, Co-founder, CACR and Director, Projects.

CONTEXT: Why Do Urban Municipal Schools Need a HWWS Project

ndia’s most prosperous state Maharashtra is home to the richest citizen as well as some

I of the country’s poorest. Cosmopolitan Mumbai is not only the state capital but the
country’s undisputed financial capital as well. It is no surprise then that lakhs of migrants
throng Mumbai in search of work from all across the country. The burgeoning numbers put a
strain on the city’s limited infrastructure and resources.
About 54% of Mumbai population lives in its slums. Urban
54% of Mumbai’s residents live in slums, like the ones that can be spotted from the air before
overcrowded slums, where hygienic landing in Maximum City, are marked by overcrowding,
practices and sanitation education
are lacking congestion, a tussle for amenities like water and electricity,
a negligible number of individual household toilets, a larger
number of shared/community toilets and lack of hygienic
practices and sanitation education. A majority of children from these low-income
neighbourhoods are enrolled in nearby municipal schools, which can be accessed on foot,
eliminating the need for most working parents to drop and pick up their wards, or arrange for
costly transportation to and from school. The living conditions in urban slums, the absence of
a comprehensive hygiene education programme in schools and the related inconsistency in
the availability of soap in both settings mean the children are not accustomed to washing

5
their hands with soap before meals and after using the toilet. As a consequence these
children are vulnerable to frequent illnesses, resulting in low attendance in schools,
especially during the monsoon months (June to September).

PLANNING: Starting Out

F
ollowing the success of Swachhata Saptaah and
the positive response by students to HWWS-
related activities, CACR decided to conduct a pilot
project to stage the HWWS intervention in a few selected
schools.

The Go-Ahead for the Pilot Project: CACR

approached the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) for permission to conduct a pilot project in municipal
schools in the Greater Mumbai area. The civic body
granted approval for the pilot project to be implemented in
five school buildings in August 2016.

Curriculum for HWWS Module: For technical

support, CACR turned to UNICEF Maharashtra to help
evolve a curriculum for the HWWS project. A module was created keeping in mind the urban
context and its limitations. A few activities from UNICEF’s module for its DHaAL project were
selected. Critical messages and concepts were covered in 12 sessions:

Session 1 – The importance of handwashing

Session 2 – The steps of handwashing
Session 3 – The importance of washing hands under time pressure
Session 4 – Critical times for washing hands
Session 5 – The concept of invisible germs and pathogens
Session 6 – The spread of germs via hands from person-to-person
Session 7 – Water alone is not enough to clean hands
Session 8 – Soap and water are equally important to eradicate bacteria
Session 9 and 10 – Reinforcing concepts learnt in Sessions 5 and 8
Session 11 – Transmission of germs via oral-faecal route (introduction)
Session 12– Recap and quiz

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These topics were covered through a combination of stories, songs, interactive games, role
play, poster making, drawing and quizzes. Material (stationery, props) and other logistical
support were provided by CACR.

Orientation: To kick-off the intervention, UNICEF conducted an orientation of 30 volunteers.

A majority of them are college students and young working professionals. A handful of
school students also participated. They attended the day-long orientation. They were
introduced to the concept of HWWS and taken through the paces of the easy-to-implement
module.

First orientation and training of 30 volunteers conducted by UNICEF

Training: In all, 200 volunteers were trained for the HWWS project. The first 30 were
trained by UNICEF. The rest were trained in batches of 30-35 volunteers by CACR at five
locations in Mumbai. Out of these, 155 volunteers have gone on to deliver the HWWS
project in 38 schools and one Rotary Club centre till date.

Infrastructure Survey: During the course of the project, CACR also conducted an
assessment of facilities in three schools. For this, it borrowed another defining aspect from
DHaAL: the Three-Star Approach, which became the foundation of the planning and
intervention of the HWWS project.

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 THREE STAR APPROACH

The Three Star Approach for WASH in Schools has been designed to improve the
effectiveness of hygiene behaviour change programmes. It

 Ensures that healthy habits are taught, practised and integrated into daily school
routines
 Helps schools meet the essential criteria for a healthy and protective learning
environment for children as part of the broader child-friendly schools initiative
 Aims to address the bottlenecks that block the effectiveness and expansion of
current WASH in Schools programmes

With the help of this approach, schools are encouraged to take simple, inexpensive steps
that are designed to ensure that all students wash their hands with soap, have access to
drinking water, and are provided with clean, gender-segregated toilets at school every day.

Group activities drive this incremental approach, beginning with daily, supervised group
handwashing sessions. Once minimum standards are achieved, schools can move from one
to three stars by expanding hygiene-promotion activities and improving infrastructure,
especially for girls, and will ultimately achieve the national standards for WASH in Schools.

A fundamental principle behind the approach is that expensive water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH) infrastructure in schools is not necessary to meet health goals. The few
investments in hardware will be limited to those facilities and supplies, such as soap, that
are necessary to encourage and reinforce behaviour change.

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 WHAT THE 3-STAR RATING MEANS

•A school that has limited or no hygiene-promotion activitie, and may or may not have a
wash structure.
0 Star
•A school where the supervised group handwashing with soap before meal times, and
cleaning of toilets takes place; soap, water and at least one functional toilet each for boys
and girls are made available.
1 Star
•A school where there is hygiene education and facility to promote handwashing with soap
after toilet use; improved sanitation and MHM facilities; low-cost point-of-use water
treatment in the school premises.
2 Star

• A school where facilities are upgraded to meet national standards.

3 Star

WASH infrastructure facilities were surveyed at the school buildings at Nityanand Marg,
Chakala and Dixit Road, accommodating 13 schools. Here are the findings of the survey:

WASH Facility Requirement/Standard Remark

Hand washing points 1 wash point per 20  Average time taken per student
students is 30 seconds
 Classes to be given a break at
10-minute intervals
Water for 3 litres per student  For 400 students, the storage
handwashing and capacity should be 1500 litres
drinking purposes  An additional capacity of up to 2
days is required. i.e 3000 litres
Separate toilet 1 seat per 40-80  Assuming that at most 5-10%
facility for boys students students use toilets in schools
Separate toilet 1 seat per 40-80  Out of 200 students, 10-20
facility for girls students would need to use the toilet
Separate urinal for 1 seat per 40 students facilities during the break
boys  Assuming 5 minutes per usage,
Separate urinal for 1 seat per 40 students one toilet can cater to 4
girls students in a 20-minute break.
 2-4 toilet seats required to cater
to 10-20 students
 More urinals required

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Structure and Chain of Command: The entirely-volunteer driven HWWS project is
structured hierarchically. With guidance from UNICEF, the project head overseas the
operations. She works closely with a team of 7 coordinators. Each coordinator oversees the
work of 15-20 volunteers. The volunteers conduct the school-level sessions over a 3-month
engagement period. During this period, the volunteers meet their respective coordinator
regularly to discuss concerns and address challenges. Social media platforms like Facebook
and messaging apps like WhatsApp are used extensively to connect, coordinate and
document experiences on a regular basis.

CHAIN OF COMMAND

UNICEF

Project
Head

Coordinator Coordinator

Volunteer Volunteer Volunteer Volunteer

Role of the Stakeholders: Multiple stakeholders were involved in the implementation of the
project. Each one played a specific role.

CACR The NGO spearheading the project recruited volunteers, got the
necessary permissions, purchased and distributed inventory, paid
a stipend to coordinators, monitored and documented the project
on a daily basis.
College students and Those who made up the volunteer force conducted the 12
young working sessions for the selected classes in their allotted schools over a
professionals period of 8 months
UNICEF, Maharashtra As knowledge partner, it designed and modified the HWWS
module to suit the urban context, oriented and trained the first
batch of volunteers, joined Global Handwashing Day celebrations
and helped with documentation of the project.
Education Department, The Department gave the necessary permission to implement the
BMC pilot project - the first such intervention in the urban setting

10
Authorities in each School authorities instructed individual class teachers of
BMC school Standards 1 to 8 to co-operate by making space for the weekly
HWWS session in their respective time-tables. The schools also
provided the space (classrooms, assembly hall for indoor
activities, and the school playground for outdoor activities) for the
programme.
Teachers BMC school teachers incorporated the HWWS sessions into their
existing timetable, participated in a few sessions, signed
attendance sheets and shared feedback letters with CACR.
BMC school students The direct beneficiaries of the HWWS project played a significant
role in spreading the word about hygienic handwashing practices
at home and in their respective communities. They also shared
feedback through letters and drawings about the programme.
Parents Parents gave their children money to buy soaps.

HIGHLIGHTS: The Intervention

 The project was implemented in municipal schools in Andheri, Vile Parle, Santa Cruz,
Juhu, Khar, Bandra, Colaba, Khetwadi, Bombay Central Central and Fort, spanning 7
language mediums (English, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada and Tamil).
 Students from Standards 1 to 8 participated in the HWWS project in all these
schools.
 Each class underwent 12 sessions spread over 3 months. One session was held
every week during this period.

o A session lasted one hour. Individual volunteers worked with teachers of each
class to incorporate the weekly session into the timetable.
o The volunteers were encouraged to follow the HWWS module, with some scope
for improvisation to ensure maximum participation and retain the interest of
students.
o A combination of stories, songs and games was used to impart critical behaviour
change messages.
o Students were taught the importance of soap and the hazards of washing hands
without soap through experiential learning.

11
 o The catchy handwash song, which is in Hindi, was taught to students in all 7
mediums to help the children remember the steps of handwashing.

Poster-making and bedsheet-painting activities to commemorate Global

Handwashing Day

 2 critical times of washing hands - before meals and after using the toilet – were
strongly emphasised.

 The volunteers urged the schools to provide soap in all the toilets for the children to
use.

 Volunteers appointed Handwash Monitors in each class (some on a rotational basis)

to hone their leadership skills and inculcate a sense of responsibility in their peers. In
some schools, the volunteers gave the monitors special badges to pin up on their
uniforms. They were taught to supervise their classmates during critical times and to
maintain a record. Those forgetting to wash hands with soap were reminded
constantly to wash their hands by the monitor and their peers. It was expected that
these monitors would take the mandate forward post CACR intervention.

Handwashing time-table (left) for daily monitoring; a Handwash Monitor sporting his badge

12
 The changed behaviour (using soap while washing hands) was monitored by CACR
volunteers and school staff over the 12-weeks period. The CACR volunteers built a
good rapport with the students in the initial 2-3 sessions. Following this, the students
themselves began reporting the progress they made to the volunteers. For instance,
many students revealed that they had have shared their learnings about hygiene with
their siblings, parents and neighbours. Most students always made it a point to show
their clean hands to their bhaiyya (brother) and didi (sister), that is, the CACR
volunteers, before eating their mid-day meal.

 The coordinators/staff implementing the project of each school building had 500
soaps and 2 buckets for the project, along with disposable glasses, the requisite
stationary items, badges and volunteer folders. Each folder has one copy of the
permission letter, attendance sheets and the sessions’ manual.

 The project, which began in 5 school buildings, was scaled up to 7 more on popular
demand by the MCGM schools and participating volunteers.

 Documentation was a vital aspect of the project. Volunteers and staff maintained a
record of all that was done during the sessions.

 Feedback about the project design and implementation was sought from various
stakeholders at the end of the 12-session intervention. Letters and videos were
taken from the students, teachers and the HMs.

Letters of appreciation (left) from the school authorities; ‘thank you’ cards from the children
to the volunteers

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 SOME KEY MESSAGES HIGHLIGHTED THROUGH THESE SESSIONS

 Critical times of HWWS (Before eating, before cooking, before feeding infants,
before handling water, after defecation, after handling child excreta, after
playing).
 Handwashing with soap after defecation and before handling food or eating will
improve everyone’s health.
 Steps of HWWS
 Germs cannot be seen with the naked eye. Germs are invisible!
 One can fall ill from the faeces and germs on one’s hands and also make others ill.
 We come in contact with germs every day. Some of these can cause serious
illnesses. Soap is necessary to get rid of germs. It has the ability to destroy germs.
 Water alone is not enough for handwashing. Only when hand is washed with
water and soap that children are protected, becoming strong and healthy.
 Visibly clean looking hands are not necessarily free from germs that are
invisible.
 Germs clinging to unclean hands can easily get in food and from food into
mouths.
 Hands that do not smell may have germs from faeces on them.
 HWWS is a habit and needs to be continued.
 Human excreta are the main source of diarrheal pathogens. They are also the
source of many other diseases such as typhoid, cholera, worm infestation and
some respiratory diseases. Just one gram of excreta can contain: 1 crore viruses,
10 lakh bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and eggs.
 Handwashing is one of the key barriers to stop faecal-oral transmission of germs.

14
 COMPONENTS OF THE STRATEGY

CONNECT: Building a rapport with every child in the class. Knowing each one by their
name.

REWARDS: Giving small gifts like combs, soap boxes, soaps to motivate the children to
be the best hand washer of the week, answering questions correctly. This is to reinforce
learning and encourage remembering appropriate practices.

INVOLVE: Appointing a handwash monitor with the help of the teacher in-charge. Also,
making it a point to involve the teacher wherever possible as her cooperation is
important.

PLEDGE: Teaching the Handwash Monitors the Handwash Pledge. Asking them to
motivate their classmates to say it every day

AGENTS OF CHANGE: Encouraging the children to be the ambassadors of HWWS

behaviour in their respective communities. Every child must teach the 5 steps of
handwashing and critical times to his/her family members.

TRACKING: Maintaining a daily checklist for hand wash at critical times on the last page
of the student’s notebooks so that they practice and keep track of HWWS even in your
absence. Enlisting the help of the teacher/handwash monitor to keep a check on every
child. Appointing handwash buddies will also help.

ADDRESSING WASH CHALLENGES: In case soap is insufficient or handwash stations are

poorly maintained in the school, informing the teacher/HM and following up regularly.
This is to create an environment .

STAGGERING SESSIONS: A gap of about a week/ 7 days was maintained between

sessions.

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TIMELINES & MILESTONES
The project has come far since the days of the Bal Swachhata Mahotsav. Here are some
milestones in the journey so far.

 June 2016: Permissions sought from MCGM to implement the pilot project in 5 schools
 July 2016: Recruitment and orientation of volunteers, programme implementation begins
 October 2016: First school completes the programme and celebrates Global
Handwashing Day
 December 2016 : Scaling up the project from 5 to 12 locations due to popular demand
 November 2016 to February 2017: Infrastructure survey conducted in 3 school buildings
 April 2017: HWWS Project comes to an end
 May 2017: Certificate distribution and review of feedback received from schools and
students
 June 2017: Meeting the DMC Education Mr. Milind Sawant to discuss the impact of the
project and future plans
 July 2017: Follow-up and surprise visits in schools to assess qualitative impact via case
studies

Dec 16 June-
June'16 Oct'16 Feb '17 July '17
July'16 April-May
First Project '17
Permission scaled 3-star Impact
for pilot Volunteers school survey data
up from Project
obtained recruited, complete complete completed shared
oriented s project 5 to 12
from d for 3 and with
and and location
MCGM buiildings certificates BMC
celebrate s Edu
trained given to
s GHD volunteers Dept
and schools

16
REACH

T
he project reached 3234 students at 38 schools at 12 locations and one Rotary Club
centre over a period of 8 months.

No. of No. of
schools: students:

38 3234
(Std 1-8 )

No. of Sessions/
volunteers: weeks

155 12
LOOKING AT HANDWASHING WITH NEW EYES
EARLIER NOW
Hand washing was Now seen as an important activity to practice for the rest of their
viewed as a cursory lives
activity
Did not value soap Treat soap as a special commodity and take pride in carrying
soap from home
Used to wipe their wet Carry handkerchiefs and small napkins to wipe their hands on, or
hands on their soiled wave their hands around to get rid of water droplets and dry their
clothes hands in the air

17
IMPACT

A
positive behavioural change was noticed in a majority of students by the HMs,
school teachers and CACR volunteers.

 Children began regularly washing their hands after using the toilet and before mid-
day meals.
 They began demanding soap at home and in school so that they can wash their
hands at critical times.
 Attendance jumped by 15% in all schools after the HWWS project began.
 Peer-to-peer learning of good hygiene practices increased.
 The students began teaching their parents and siblings the importance of
handwashing and the correct technique of doing so.
 A number of children began bringing soap (bars and liquid) from home to school,
carrying these in plastic bags or small plastic boxes so as to have their own soap at
the time of handwashing.
 Students developed leadership skills after being appointed handwash monitors.
Many began vying for the post as the project continued to penetrate the school.

18
LOOKING BACK: What Worked

T
he implementation of the HWWS project in urban schools was a success largely
because of a few key factors.

 The modules featuring child-friendly curriculum is written in simple, easy-to-follow

language, making it easier for the volunteers to use and teach.
 The thrust on interactive, activity-based learning by way of stories, songs and games
instead of monotonous, one-side, lecture-based teaching helped capture the
imagination and attention of the students, making them curious and eager to attend
subsequent sessions.
 The volunteers are the life and soul of the programme. A majority of them are college
students and young working professionals. The students view them as youthful and
novel in comparison to their school teachers, and look up to them as role models and
mentors.
 Slotting the sessions into the timetable during school hours makes it easy to ensure
attendance of all students, as opposed to a session held before or after school hours.
 The presence of class teachers helps the volunteers significantly in terms of handling
the large number of students.
 Implementing the programme does not require elaborate learning aids and props.

CHALLENGES, LESSONS & THE WAY FORWARD

N
o project takes place without its share of hurdles. The HWWS project by CACR in
38 municipal schools and one Rotary Club centre was no different.

 Availability of Soap: When the soap bars distributed to the students ran out, the habit
of HWWS declined, with only a handful of students remembering to bring a bar of
soap from home and only a handful of schools ensuring the availability of soap in the
toilets. Some HMs reported that the soap bars would be overused or go missing.
Teachers were encouraged to ensure the soap was available and used in school.
Continuous advocacy was done with the HMs and SMCs for regular soap availability
but it is challenge throughout the implementation of the programme.

19
 Classroom Management: Some volunteers reported that they found it hard to
manage entire classes of 40 students, having to constantly rely on class teachers
who cannot be present 100% of the time. The classes were divided into smaller
batches and with more number of volunteers to manage the sessions well and also
enable quality in delivery.

 Modifying the Module: The volunteers and the schools have reported that some of
the sessions take longer than 40 minutes to complete, making it difficult to retain the
interest of students, especially the younger ones. Some of the sessions for younger
ones needed more simplified content and easier methods of delivery by factoring in
their age-appropriate grasping/understanding levels, thereby ensuring better
participation. Modification of the module:
o Reducing the duration of a session from one hour to 45 minutes.
o Introducing separate modules for Standards 1 to 4; Standards 5 to 8
o Considering the time constraints faced at the schools, the number of sessions
would be decreased from by 2–3.

 SMC Involvement: Involving SMCs in improving WASH facilities and ensuring the
availability of soap through donations/contributions in cash or kind can go a long way
in addressing the sustainability concern. After all, the parents of the children who
study in these schools are key decision makers. While the SMCs were aware that the
HWWS project was being conducted, they were not proactively involved in the
programme except in a few schools. The systematic and planned engagment of
SMCs in all schools will be aimed for in subsequent projects

 Teacher Involvement. The involvement of teachers in the overall program and the
sessions was sparse. Capacity building of teachers is critical. This will address the
dependence on volunteers (which is a part of this operational model), who will not be
involved long term in follow-up once certificates are given. The strategy is to develop
the capacities of teachers and staff of the schools to follow up by conducting more
sessions; ensuring revision and practice of behaviour change. This could go a long
way in ensuring that the practice of HWWS continues.

 Follow-up sessions: Surprise visits to schools to access the impact and follow-up
sessions after the project is over are helpful.

20
 There was logistical pressure on the permanent staff of CACR to provide stationary
and props to the volunteers, including the delivery of these to each classroom. This
aspect can be decentralised and the individual volunteers can be encouraged to
purchase and carry the material to their sessions (reimbursable). Alternately, the
SMCs could be encouraged to contribute the materials.

21
Citizens Association for Child Rights (CACR)
1, Prabhav Society, 2nd Road, TPS III, Santacruz (East)
Mumbai 400055
Tel: 9987598509
22 / 9833164535
e-mail: connect.cacr@gmail.com
www.ngocacr.com