Our Projects · Rainwater for WASH

Blue Schoolsin Kaolack

Écoles Bleues, Kaolack

With Caritas Kaolack, primary schools in Kahone gained rainwater, toilets, hygiene lessons and shady trees – and were still caring for them eight years later.

CompletedRainwater for WASH2011–2013

WhereSenegal, Kaolack region (Kahone)

When2011–2013

WithCaritas Kaolack

Rainfall≈ 686 mm a year in Senegalnational average, World Bank; local figure to add

Results

1,180children with daily access to drinking water and toilets

The Challenge

Kaolack is Senegal's main groundnut trading centre, and June temperatures can exceed 40°C. Fetching water from distant sources took families about half an hour a day, a task often done by children. Poor hygiene and sanitation increased the risk of diarrhoea. The project aimed to give children safe water, clean toilets and hygiene habits they could also take home.

Rain in Senegal: about 686 mm a year, mostly June to October. Source: World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal (observed 1991–2020) and World Bank average precipitation.

What We Did

Built rooftop rainwater harvesting with storage tanks and taps in the schools.
Built toilets and washrooms.
Trained children in hygiene to cut the routes of contamination.
Planted trees and created school gardens.
Introduced waste management routines, such as picking up litter every morning.
Caritas Kaolack took on the long-term care of the facilities.

Results

1,180 children gained daily access to drinking water and toilets, and the schools were labelled Blue Schools.
Children spread good hygiene practices in their households.
On visits in 2019, IRHA found the facilities well maintained by Caritas Kaolack and the teachers, eight years after the inauguration.
The trees now shade the playgrounds, and local people use the school's stored rainwater (about 40–50 m³) for cleaning in the dry season.
Ideas spread locally: a parents' committee president planted lemon and orange trees at home.