WASH recommendations for improving disaster preparedness and recovery in schools in Indonesia

This paper reports on the recommendations that arose from the mixed-methods exploration and pilot interventions carried out for the resilient recovery around water, sanitation and hygiene of schools three years post-disaster. Access to functional and clean toilets which maintain privacy and dignity and support girls' Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) plays a crucial role to getting girls back to school post-disaster.

The results highlight that across schools descriptive and injunctive social norms were supportive of littering, inadequate toilet facilities for girls to manage their menstruation and bullying and antisocial behaviour by opening toilet doors while the facilities were occupied. Based on these results, they developed two types of interventions, physical and behavioural, piloted in three schools to increase WASH and MHM awareness and the safety of sanitation facilities. The interventions showed that approaches for WASH interventions in schools can only be designed if we understand the local barriers to carrying out interventions that integrate maintenance plans.