CHAST: Children’s Hygiene and Sanitation Training

_CHAST: Children’s Hygiene and Sanitation Training Caritas Switzerland’s Approach to Hygiene and Sanitation Promotion in Schools

Approach and Principles The Children Hygiene and Sanitation Training (CHAST) approach was developed by Caritas Switzerland in 2002 to promote good sanitation and hygiene behaviour among children. It is based on the well-established Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) approach.

CHAST uses a variety of exercises and educational games to target children aged between five and 15 years to teach them about the direct links between hygiene and good health. CHAST is based on the premise that personal hygiene practices are usually acquired during childhood and it is much easier to change children’s habits than those of adults.

Photo: Sabine Schild

It takes advantage of the nature of children being inquisitive and eager to learn and focuses on the development of life skills. During the CHAST sessions, children actively participate in open discussions and share their experiences and ideas with their peers. CHAST aims to create an effective channel for delivering hygiene and sanitation messages home. CHAST tools are fun and involve games, exercises and role plays that prompt children to discuss and understand the key issues related to hygiene.

Children around a water point at school in Isoke, South Sudan

Implementation Steps CHAST is introduced by the WASH Unit through a Training of Trainers (ToT), composed of project staff, teachers and representatives from the Ministries of Health and Education. After the ToT, teachers roll out CHAST in their school or in the community.

CHAST can be rolled out the following ways: • By integrating CHAST sessions in the school curriculum and thus training each class independently; • By training members of the School Health Club (SHC) and encouraging them to conduct CHAST sessions to their peers; • By training other teachers in the school and using them to conduct CHAST sessions in smaller groups; and • By organising CHAST sessions directly in the villages, to reach children who do not go to school.

CHAST Tools

Photo: Andreas Schwaiger

CHAST uses different methodologies and tools for children in lower and upper primary adapted to better suit the different age groups. It also includes the formation of SHC.

Children attending a CHAST session in Ethiopia

CHAST for Lower Primary School Pupils CHAST consists of five ordered steps during which a variety of tools are used: Introduction The first step is an icebreaker, to familiarise the children with the participative rather than frontal teaching approach and the tools.

Problem Identification The second step focuses on identifying the common sanitation and hygiene practices that may impact our health.

Problem Analysis In the third step, the problems identified in step 2 are analysed and common hygiene-related diseases and how they are transmitted are explained.

Practising Good Behaviour This fourth step involves training children in practical skills that are essential for blocking the spread of the diseases and for good personal hygiene.

Measuring Change The fifth and final step serves to measure behavioural changes, such as hand washing and latrine use and includes an official closing session.

Photo: Caritas Switzerland

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Children attending a CHAST session in Kenya

CHAST for lower primary comprises a total of 14 sessions, and uses nine different tools, including posters, practical hygiene demonstrations, role plays and songs. Three characters – Naughty, Ruby and Smarty – have been created to encourage the children to have fun as they discuss specific hygiene and sanitation topics. Each session takes about 45 minutes.

CHAST for Upper Primary School Pupils For upper primary, the main hygiene messages are addressed under the following seven topics: Topic 1: ‘Clean is beautiful’. On hand washing.

Topic 2: ‘I drink... safe water’. On water hygiene management.

Topic 3: ‘Going to the latrine’. On stopping open defecation.

Topic 4: ‘My beautiful school’. On environmental sanitation.

Topic 5: ‘Germ free food’. On food hygiene management.

Topic 6: ‘How to prevent diarrhoea’. On routes of transmission.

Topic 7: ‘My body, my period’. On menstrual hygiene.

Drawings from the CHAST manual

A special handbook, also referred to as flipchart, is used. The design of the handbook allows the facilitator to show the drawings to the group, while referring to the backside of the drawing for the script, group discussion questions and answers, and examples of activities and games. The drawings present different story lines about the principal characters Naughty, Ruby and Smarty and compare good and bad behaviours that influence our health and well-being. Each topic takes about one hour.

School Health Clubs To institutionalise the lessons learned, a SHC is established in each school. The roles of the SHC include: • Carrying on with the hygiene messages even after the completion of the CHAST; • Ensuring the proper use and maintenance of the school’s sanitation facilities, such as latrines, hand washing stands and garbage pits; • Monitoring the cleanness of the school compound and classrooms;

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Organising school sanitation and hygiene events; and Serving as a vehicle to reach to the children who do not come to the school and the community at large with key hygiene messages.

CHAST Toolkit and Manual The complete CHAST approach is laid out in Caritas Switzerland’s manual: Children’s Hygiene and Sanitation Training – A Practical Facilitation Handbook. The manual is a general practical guide with step-by-step instructions on how to implement the hands-on tools. Soft copies of the manual can be freely downloaded from the following webpage: www.caritas.ch/wash-nairobi.

CHAST kits can be produced by the WASH Unit on request. The CHAST kit is a bag containing laminated colour posters, a puppet, a card game, a copy of the manual and a soft copy of all the materials in a CD. Although CHAST illustrations are context specific, the general guide can be used as a basis for setting up and implementing CHAST elsewhere in the world. Drawings and tools can be adapted to fit the different contexts and countries. Caritas Switzerland has developed full CHAST kits for Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.

Photo: Susanne Peters

For more information, please contact Caritas Switzerland’s WASH Unit in Nairobi.

Pupils demonstrating tooth brushing during a CHAST session in Somaliland

Doing the right thing.

WASH Unit Caritas Switzerland, Nairobi Office New Rehema House Westlands P. O. Box 14954-00800 Nairobi – Kenya Email: wash.nairobi@caritas.ch Office tel: +254 20 4447699 Office mobile: +254 721 847151 / +254 733 581052 Website: www.caritas.ch Twitter: Caritas Swiss GHA Facebook: Caritas Switzerland in the Greater Horn of Africa