Bringing the human voice to WASH in schools
We know whether WASH services are available in schools. But do they meet the needs of students and staff?
The School WASH Insecurity Experiences (School-WISE) Scales are brief surveys that answer that question by capturing whether services are accessible, acceptable, and adequate for the people who depend on them.
Why we are building these tools
Reliable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services are essential for effective learning and for supporting the safety and dignity of students and school staff. Accurate measurement is the first step to ensuring their needs are met.
All ten schools met the standard for basic drinking water. Seven in ten students surveyed at these schools still went thirsty.
Uganda, March and April 2024. Ten schools in Wobulenzi and Kakooge, 613 students, and 162 school staff.
Data like these help reveal whether services are falling short for the people who use them, and inform what to do about it. In Uganda, they are helping local decision-makers work out how to better meet the needs of students and staff, and to fulfill their right to safe water.
By WHO/UNICEF JMP criteria
Drinking water service
- Basic serviceWater from an improved source, available at the schoolAll schools
- Limited serviceAn improved source, but no water available
- No serviceAn unimproved source, or none
Water challenges experienced by students and staff at schools with basic drinking water services
| Problem | Students (613) | School staff (162) |
|---|---|---|
| Thirsty, no safe water to drink | 69 | 51 |
| Worried water would run short | 59 | 55 |
| Water tasted, looked, or smelled bad | 38 | 15 |
Measuring beyond basic
Global monitoring classifies a school's drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene as basic, limited, or no service, based on what is in place at the time of the survey. The School-WISE Scales complement those indicators by asking the people who use the services whether the services work for them.
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Drinking water
Basic service means
Water from an improved source, available at the school
10 of 10 Uganda schools met it
School-WISE asks students
“In the past week, how often did you feel thirsty at school but there was no safe water to drink?”In Uganda, students said
69%sometimes or many times
-
Sanitation
Basic service means
Improved toilets that are single-sex and usable
1 of 10 Uganda schools met it
School-WISE asks students
“In the past week, how often did you worry you could be seen while peeing or pooping at school?”In Uganda, students said
42%sometimes or many times
-
Hygiene
Basic service means
A handwashing facility with water and soap available
2 of 10 Uganda schools met it
School-WISE asks students
“In the past week, how often was there not enough soap for washing your hands while at school?”In Uganda, students said
82%sometimes or many times
Students answer never, sometimes (1 or 2 times), or many times (3 or more). Results come from the ten Uganda schools above, where 611 to 613 students answered each question. Service levels come from the facility assessment at each school. Uganda was the first site: its survey used an earlier wording of these questions and asked about the past couple of weeks.
The scales at a glance
- Who answers
- Students aged 7 and older, and teaching and non-teaching staff. Each group has its own survey.
- What they are asked
- How often they ran into a problem at school in any of five domains. WaterSanitationHygieneMenstrual healthWaste management
- How they answer
- Never, sometimes, or many times. Students think back over the past week, and staff over the past four weeks.
- How long it takes
- About 10 to 15 minutes, asked in private by trained study staff.
- What it is paired with
- A structured assessment of the school's WASH facilities, so that experiences can be set beside service levels at the same schools.
- Where things stand
- The surveys are in use and available on request. Analysis is under way to choose the final, shorter set of questions.
Traditional supply-side measures capture availability well, and accessibility in part, at a single point in time.
School-WISE adds accessibility, usability and sufficiency, and reliability over time, across all five domains.
Where the scales have been used
More than 2,200 students and nearly 900 school staff at 87 schools have answered the surveys so far, in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, and Uganda. Further sites are in preparation. Partners run the surveys as standalone studies or add them to monitoring and evaluation they already do, and contribute the data to a shared, harmonized database.
We are looking for partners in high-income countries, South America, the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia.
Data collection complete
In preparation
Ethiopia
Data collection completeAddis Ababa
Splash
200 students and 100 school staff at 25 schools, November 2024
Site leads: Chris Nicoletti, Fiker Abebe, Israel Yednekachew
Oromia, Somali, and other regions
Needs4Water
Data collected
Site lead: Asma Rabo, Founder
Get involved
Use the scales
Add the surveys to a study or evaluation you already have planned. Our team provides training, translation guidance, and technical support, and your site gets its results back.
Fund the work
The scales need to be implemented in more settings before we can judge how well they perform across them. We are seeking support for new study sites and for training partner teams.
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