Baseline Survey: School WASH Facility Assessment

This report presents findings of the baseline study of the five-year USAID/Zambia-funded Schools Promoting Learning Achievement through Sanitation and Hygiene (SPLASH) project. The project’s overall objective is to sustainably improve equitable access to education through provision of safe water, adequate sanitation, hygiene information, and health practices to improve learning environments and educational performance in basic schools. The project operates in four districts of the Eastern Province: Chipata, Lundazi, Chadiza, and Mambwe. As of June 2013, school WASH activities started in some selected schools in Mambwe, Chipata, and Lundazi. Data were collected also in Vubwi, but no project activities are planned for that district. Results presented here, however, include findings for Vubwi for reference purposes.

The objectives of the baseline are to depict the current picture of WASH facilities and their functionality and accessibility to both abled and differently abled people within the schools as well as surrounding communities.

Using a quantitative research approach coupled with qualitative data collection methods involving field observations, the following were the key findings of the baseline: