Final poster presentation Fall 2018 for Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries - Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) Education group

1. In developing countries like Haiti, access to sanitation
and hygiene lessons are minimal. This is caused by the
lack of quality and participation in the education system.
In Haiti, 78% of students drop out by the end of primary
school and only 60% of adults are literate1. Even when
students are in school, they often do not have access to
sanitation and hygiene lessons. Lack of knowledge on
these subjects can lead to many illnesses and often
death in developing countries. According the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “About 88% of
diarrhea-associated deaths are attributable to unsafe
inadequate sanitation, and insufficient hygiene,”2 and
90% diarrhea-associated deaths are for children under
the age of five3. Greater access to sanitation and hygiene
information will be able to decrease diseases within
Haitian schools and will expand proper sanitation
practices to the surrounding community.
Background Information
Mission Statement
The mission of the WASH Education project is to create
culturally appropriate Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
(WASH) Education lesson plans and materials that will be
implemented in Summits Education schools in Haiti to
improve WASH practices.
References
1 “The Opportunity.” Summits Education, Summits Education.
2 “Global Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene (WASH).” Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 Dec. 2015.
3 ”Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.” UNICEF, UNICEF, 17 June 2003.
Partnerships
We have partnered with Summits Education which is an
organization that operates forty schools with the mission
to improve the quality of education in Haiti, specifically
in the Central Plateau. With their guidance and resources
the WASH Education team has recognized the needs of
the project and started lesson development. Another
valuable asset to the project is the work that the CEDC
interns in Cange are completing. One intern is visiting
the Summits Education schools and conducting
evaluations to understand their current WASH practices
and needs. Another intern works with Summits Education
faculty to establish the requirements for the lessons.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the Clemson University Creative
Inquiry Program, the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, Partners
in Literacy Haiti, and Summits Education.
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Education
Amanda Steel, Jay Harmstad, Nikki Bono, Madison
Stanley, Jennifer Paloni, and David Vaughn
Currently, six lesson plans, as mentioned above, are in
the development stage. In order to maintain
standardization, development has been broken down
into sections as follows:
Lesson Development
Figure 3, 4, and 5. Examples
of Latrines and WASH
Stations at Summits
Education Schools
Figure 1. Graphic Outlining Need for WASH Education
This semester, the WASH Education team researched
different styles of teaching that are effective with our
target age range, such as game-based, inquiry-based,
kinesthetic, direct instruction, cooperative, and positive
reinforcement. Additionally, the team’s research includes
evaluation and surveys of Summits Education schools by
CEDC interns to determine the need for WASH education
and what the schools are already doing well. A literature
review was compiled and finalized, highlighting the
semester’s research. The team is developing lessons on
topics such as brushing teeth, washing hands, toilets
and open defecation, general personal hygiene, illnesses
from poor hygiene, and clean water. The research will
serve to determine the need for WASH education in these
and similar areas, and coupling that with the research on
styles of education will help the group to ultimately
develop lesson plans to train Haitian primary school
teachers to teach them.
Research
In the coming semester, the group will finish the lesson
plans currently being worked on, as well as, the addition
of a few others. Part of finishing these lesson plans, in
addition to developing background information and
lesson methodology, includes activities such as games
and songs, in Creole, which are currently being
established by the team. The group plans to finish all
lesson plans by the end of the Spring 2019 semester. At
which point, they will be sending an intern to Haiti to
implement these lesson plans. The intern will teach these
lesson plans to the teachers of Cange and surrounding
areas with the help of Summits Education. After
implementation, the CEDC intern will visit schools to
track the progress of the lessons and receive feedback
from teachers and students. The lessons will be adapted
accordingly to ensure sustainability.
Future
Lesson requirements: includes lesson
objectives and all of the necessary
information needed to obtain the objectives.
Material list: determines an initial budget
estimate and allows for preparation.
Activity description: establishes and
describes the proposed activities in detail.
Plan for visuals: posters or other illustrations
to help portray the lesson objectives.
Plan for training: defines the best way to train
teachers to teach the lessons.
Figure 2. Lesson Development Methodology
Need for WASH
Education
Lower education
standards
Less emphasis
on sanitation
Illnesses due to
poor hygiene