Into the new

Women collect water from a well in Benishangul Gumuz.

Credit: WaterAid / Kate Eshelby

The beautiful scenery of Benishangul Gumuz belies this remote, drought-prone and marginalised region of Ethiopia where some of the poorest people in the world live.

In rural areas of Ethiopia like this just 11% of the population have safe water and fewer still, just 4% have access to sanitation.

WaterAid began working here in 2004 and while it is still in its early phases the project is having great success. New technologies like ecological sanitation (ECOSAN) are being piloted along with the rump pump, a type of water pump that can be manufactured locally from parts that are readily available and can be easily repaired.

Innovative techniques like child to child hygiene education (where children pass hygiene messages on to their friends and families) is also taking effect.

Children have also been the subject of a new study in the region, exploring sanitation in schools. With such poor sanitation country wide, schools suffer. And in a region which is so remote the situation is particularly dire.

A lack of latrines has been a real problem for villagers.

Credit: WaterAid / Kate Eshelby

The biggest problem found was simply the lack of latrines. Some schools had no toilets and in others pupils were expected to share a latrine with 325 other people.

Most school latrines were in a state of disrepair, often with broken doors, were filthy and rarely cleaned, were without washing facilities, weren't separated for men and women and, in a region which has so many other difficulties, were simply not seen as a priority.

This meant many students didn't use the toilets at all as they felt happier and more hygienic finding a private place in the open.

Teenage girls were hit the hardest. With sanitary towels being vastly expensive, and the tradition for making towels from an absorbent form of tree bark dying out, girls in the region often rely on wearing more clothes or using rags during their period.

This, coupled with cultural taboos, meaning the subject of menstruation is rarely discussed means girls are embarrassed by their periods - a situation greatly hindered by the lack of facilities. Some even reported fearing they had contracted Aids when there first period came as it was so unexpected.

Some girls interviewed said that even on a normal day they could not be seen to go to a latrine and so left school to go to the toilet in a private place instead. Many headed for home, but as they often lived many miles from the school, once they went home they did not return. The lack of decent school sanitation is a major contributing factor to school drop out rates, particularly among girls.

Schoolchildren in Benishangul Gumuz have benefited from having clean water nearby.

Credit: WaterAid / Kate Eshelby

While the study explored sanitation the issues around water were raised too. Many pupils stated they could not keep clean and hygienic as they didn't have water in schools either.

Some students boarded at the schools and with no regular water supply have no choice but to buy water commercially.

Outside campus small bottles of water cost three birr (about US 30 cents) and even cheaper, unsafe water costs around twenty santim (US 3 cents). To put this in context the average daily labour wage in Ethiopia is seven birr (US 65 cents).

In such a marginalised area development work can be problematic. Spare parts can be hard to come by and infrastructure can be poor. And this is why WaterAid is focussing on technologies such as the rope pump, which can be manufactured locally or ecological sanitation which not only uses locally-available materials but also provides a permanent solution to sanitation problems, as the contents of the latrines can be dug out for compost.

WaterAid and its local partners are having a positive effect here helped greatly by closely knit communities who have been working well together on new water and sanitation projects.

The team is now working with the local government to see how school sanitation can be improved in the area to help encourage more of the children, especially girls, to stay on in school. It is hoped that this and the other water, sanitation and hygiene projects will help make lasting changes to the communities living here.