Press Release

OPEC Fund to promote safe water and sanitation in Bhutan

123/2005 December 20, 2005, Vienna, Austria
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The OPEC Fund for International Development today approved a grant of US$300,000 to help finance an initiative of the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which aims to provide safe drinking water and sanitation systems in Bhutanese schools. This project falls in line with government’s aim to achieve universal access to water and sanitation facilities in schools in order to create an environment more conducive to learning and improve the health and hygiene of schoolchildren.

Although the government of Bhutan has made remarkable progress in providing the country’s public schools with water and sanitation facilities, large gaps in coverage still exist. This has acted as a major disincentive for attendance, particularly for girls, and places students at risk of contracting waterborne illnesses.

The UNICEF project, which will be implemented jointly with Bhutanese authorities at a district level, will build and install modern water supply and sanitation schemes at 42 primary and community schools in rural areas, benefiting over 8,500 children. Materials will be procured locally, and the recipient communities will undertake the necessary construction works. Additionally, a total of 20 schools with an inadequate student:water tap/latrine ratio will be upgraded to meet the international standard, benefiting at least 12,000 pupils. These schools will be selected in coordination with the Bhutanese Public Health Engineering Division. A Water Supply and Sanitation Committee will also be formed, comprising specialized technicians, engineers, education and health officials as well as municipality and school representatives.

A capacity-building component will provide training to selected health officers and caretakers from 42 school administrations. Topics covered will be on basic sanitation and hygiene principles, and techniques on organizing and conducting related activities at both a school and community level. In addition, caretakers at 42 schools will receive the training needed for maintaining the newly-installed facilities.

Also planned is the introduction of awareness activities, which will be organized jointly with UNICEF. Health officers will be responsible on undertaking awareness activities through the use of posters, short educational lectures and other promotional campaigns.