Kenya: Gates foundation funds SWASH+ school programme

Updated - Friday 12 January 2007

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Water Challenge are funding a new five-year CARE programme in Kenya’s Nyanza Province, which sets out to improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene for school children. In the first three years the Sustaining and Scaling School Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Plus Community Impact (SWASH+) programme will reach 180 schools. It will identify, develop and test innovative school-based water, sanitation and hygiene interventions, such as school water supply with chlorine and handwashing stations. In addition, the partners involved expect that the experiences in 300 schools (90,000 school children) will provide valuable information on the costs and benefits of school water, sanitation and hygiene. If proven effective at the provincial level, the experiences will provide the framework for national implementation. A consortium made up of CARE, Water Partners International and their local partner SANA, the Millennium Water Alliance, the Center for Global Safe Water at Emory University, and the Global Water Challenge will implement this applied research study and government-led scale-up.

The Gates Foundation contribution to the CARE programme is US$ 9,502,499 (EUR 7,342,146). It is one the programmes funded by a Global Development Special Initiative learning grant. Currently, the Gates Fondation's Global Development Program is exploring a new learning initiative in water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Web sites: CARE; the Center for Global Safe Water; the Millennium Water Alliance; SANA International; WaterPartners International ; Gates Foundation - Global Development Special Initiatives

Source: CARE, 14 Dec 2006, The East African / AllAfrica.com, 26 Dec 2006