Sanitation in my neighbourhood

In Madagascar the lack of sanitation is a huge problem, causing five million working days and 3.5 million school days to be lost due to ill-health every year. WaterAid and its partners are working to change this and recently undertook an innovative children's photo competition as a way of teaching the importance of sanitation.

View the slideshow to see the images taken by the schoolchildren in Madagascar

Seventy two nursery and primary schools were involved in the competition. Each school was given a camera and a professional photographer explained to the children how it worked and then asked them to take images showing the sanitation problems and solutions as they see them - all under the theme of 'sanitation in my neighbourhood'.

Children were targeted as, without years of ingrained habits, they change their practices much more quickly than adults and, by learning good hygiene at an early age will take the lessons on through their lives.

Children took images themselves, either at school or in their communities where friends and families could get involved too. 100 of the best photos were selected and made into an exhibition in public libraries. And the overall winners of different categories were presented with a prize on TV in June during Children's Month.

The photos taken ranged from innovative to frank and starkly truthful. Without the embarrassment that comes with age, some children took a very literal approach to the challenge and took photos of their friends defecating in the open, and when asked what they were doing replied "well - THAT'S the problem! Everyone's just going everywhere!" And they are right. In Madagascar the economic value of working and school days lost to the lack of sanitation is estimated to be 300 times greater than the amount of public money actually being spent on sanitation.

Each school involved will also be holding their own exhibitions which parents and local authorities will be invited to attend to have discussions about the problems that the children see around them and what needs to be done to solve them.

The photographers and animators from WaterAid's partners who visited each of the schools have said that they too gained lots from the children, saying of the whole experience, "nous étions touché profondement - jusqu'au coeur" - "We were deeply touched - right to the heart."

View the slideshow to see the images taken by the schoolchildren in Madagascar

The range of pictures that the children took varied from highlighting the problems they faced by collecting water at dirty water sources and examples of bad hygiene behaviour through to good hygiene practices, new latrines and safe water points.