What barriers do female students and students with disabilities experience in accessing WASH facilities in schools? And how do they feel about marginalisation and discrimination in their learning environment?

Live & Learn Vanuatu addressed these questions in 2019 and conducted formative research in Pentecost Island, commissioned by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and Training in Vanuatu. The research reached 92 students to identify barriers to inclusive WASH for key marginalised groups in schools. 

The research report highlights students’ hygiene behaviours (e.g. washing hands with soap at critical times) and findings on physical obstacles to inclusive WASH in schools gathered from parents and teachers. The document also provides practical suggestions in terms of actions to be taken at school, provincial and national level to address the obstacles to general and inclusive WASH in schools, as well as key hygiene messages to tackle barriers to handwashing habit formation.