Submission ID 130166
| Issue/Objective | In rural Sidama, Ethiopia, Murero Sodo Primary School had unsafe latrines that lacked privacy. This caused girls to miss school, especially during menstruation, a well-documented barrier to education in low-resource settings where inadequate menstrual hygiene management facilities contribute to absenteeism. This project aimed at building gender-segregated latrines with handwashing facilities through community-led action and human-centered design, and to assess impacts on student attendance, safety perceptions, and hygiene practices. This work relates to Sub-theme 2: Equity in action, as it centers marginalized voices (girls) and demonstrates context-driven, community-led solutions. |
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| Methodology/Approach | This was a six-month pre-post intervention study. Baseline attendance data were collected for three months. Community meetings prioritized needs, identified local resources, and secured government funding. Gender-segregated latrines with handwashing stations were constructed. Follow-up data were collected for three months. Community consent was obtained through local leaders and school administration. |
| Results | Mean daily student attendance increased from 70% to 97% after the intervention, representing a 27 percentage point improvement over the three-month follow-up period. Girls reported feeling safer attending school, particularly during menstruation. Hygiene practices, including handwashing, showed observable improvement. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | Community-led development grounded in human-centered design is an effective way to solve local health problems in underserved communities. Involving government and using local resources ensures the project lasts. This model can be used in other areas with different challenges. However, this study was limited to single-site pre-post study lacked controls, limiting causal inference. The attendance increase may reflect seasonal variation, Hawthorne effects, or concurrent programs rather than the intervention alone. Three-month follow-up precludes assessment of long-term sustainability. Generalizability is limited to comparable community contexts. The 27-percentage point increase in attendance, particularly among girls, has direct policy implications: governments should allocate dedicated funding for gender-segregated latrines with handwashing facilities. This model can be scaled by training local leaders to replicate the community-meeting and government-negotiation process in other schools. Aligned with Sub-theme 2 (Equity in action), this work centers marginalized voices-menstruating girls and proves that context-driven, community-led solutions work. |
| Presenters and Affiliations | Kidist Meseret Mekuria CorpsAfrica/Ethiopia Kidist Meseret Mekuria CorpsAfrica/Ethiopia |
