FRESH Coordinating Committee Meeting: 28th February 2017
Participants: Steve Sneider (Education International), Doug McCall (ISHN), Cliff Lubitz (RTI), Jenelle Babb (UNESCO- health and education), Bella Monse (GIZ), Yuka Makino (WHO), Mohini Venkatesh (Save the Children-Meeting Chair/ note taker)
1. Next steps to share the letters to FRESH partners
There were no more comments on the background note on FRESH (see attached). The Doug and Mohini to now draft three sets of letters to send out the currents FRESH partners and prospective members. It is important to clearly state the benefits and expectations of being part FRESH partners group:
2.Recent Events
a)WinS meeting during the International Conference on Fecal Sludge management in Chennai
During the SuSanA organized WinS event, there were updates from ASCI (Administrative Staff College of India), which conducted a WinS M&E pilot for the Ministry of HRD (MoE) in India. 100,000 schools out of 1.1 million schools in India were invited for the pilot, however 300,000 schools participated in a WinS self-assessment exercise. Findings were that 80% of schools reached the first star for WinS (based on five different parameters: school toilets, drinking water, cleanliness, food safety, MHM, and deworming). There are standards for reaching 5 stars in India; this five star system will be used to categorize schools, and will be linked to the school accreditation system. Although the five star system is not linked to the WinS indicators for the SDGS, and is not currently in the EMIS, it should not be a problem to extrapolate data to do so. The five star data is helping the MHRD to decide on which schools to prioritize and what they need to do. Many of the actions for the education sector are very simple.
The coordination between the two sectors of WASH and Education is a very good to see, at the global level and there are some country examples too. Suggested next steps: Have a webinar to share the lessons of this coordination across sectors during the next monthly meeting. Jenelle (UNESCO) is interested in working with governments to see that MoEs collect data of sexuality education to answer the SDGs. She is interested to know how the WASH sector went about developing and including WASH indicators in to EMIS and the saturation point for education systems to collect data on health and nutrition information.
b)Asia Short Course on SHN- co-organized by PCD, JC-GSHR, and Mahidol University.
PCD requested to provide an update on next call or via email.
c)SHN Program Learning Group event by Save the Children
Save the Children organized a training on SHN for its staff in Manila this February. The objective was to share recent SHN guidelines and approaches, and to provide an opportunity for SHN staff to share their experiences. There was a focus on oral health, menstrual hygiene, nutrition, and road safety at the event. On day one, partners from the Philippines (DepEd, DoH, GIZ, Philippine Dental Association, Save the Children) shared their joint achievements, including the new national WASH in School (SHN) policy and monitoring the three-star approach to WinS.
3.Upcoming events
Some of the upcoming events of interest to FRESH partners is as follows. Partners also requested to visit the FRESH partners site to get more information. Doug to provide all the active members of the FRESH group editing rights to update information on the site.
There were no more comments on the background note on FRESH (see attached). The Doug and Mohini to now draft three sets of letters to send out the currents FRESH partners and prospective members. It is important to clearly state the benefits and expectations of being part FRESH partners group:
- First, email people who are not regularly attending with a personal message asking if they would like to participate more regularly in the partners meeting; OR prefer to be part of the FRESH the mailing list group. The FRESH mailing list will receive monthly updates of upcoming and recently concluded events.
- Second, email those organizations that have been active in the FRESH group to either lead or participate in some of the working groups (e.g. on health services or life skills education) or other initiatives of FRESH partners. Also to ask them to link us up with others in their organization or partners who should be part of the group.
- Third, email those who want to be part of the FRESH group providing them the background and achievements of the FRESH partners, and asking them to participate. (e.g. Liam from Plan International and the International Association for Adolescent Health).
2.Recent Events
a)WinS meeting during the International Conference on Fecal Sludge management in Chennai
During the SuSanA organized WinS event, there were updates from ASCI (Administrative Staff College of India), which conducted a WinS M&E pilot for the Ministry of HRD (MoE) in India. 100,000 schools out of 1.1 million schools in India were invited for the pilot, however 300,000 schools participated in a WinS self-assessment exercise. Findings were that 80% of schools reached the first star for WinS (based on five different parameters: school toilets, drinking water, cleanliness, food safety, MHM, and deworming). There are standards for reaching 5 stars in India; this five star system will be used to categorize schools, and will be linked to the school accreditation system. Although the five star system is not linked to the WinS indicators for the SDGS, and is not currently in the EMIS, it should not be a problem to extrapolate data to do so. The five star data is helping the MHRD to decide on which schools to prioritize and what they need to do. Many of the actions for the education sector are very simple.
The coordination between the two sectors of WASH and Education is a very good to see, at the global level and there are some country examples too. Suggested next steps: Have a webinar to share the lessons of this coordination across sectors during the next monthly meeting. Jenelle (UNESCO) is interested in working with governments to see that MoEs collect data of sexuality education to answer the SDGs. She is interested to know how the WASH sector went about developing and including WASH indicators in to EMIS and the saturation point for education systems to collect data on health and nutrition information.
b)Asia Short Course on SHN- co-organized by PCD, JC-GSHR, and Mahidol University.
PCD requested to provide an update on next call or via email.
c)SHN Program Learning Group event by Save the Children
Save the Children organized a training on SHN for its staff in Manila this February. The objective was to share recent SHN guidelines and approaches, and to provide an opportunity for SHN staff to share their experiences. There was a focus on oral health, menstrual hygiene, nutrition, and road safety at the event. On day one, partners from the Philippines (DepEd, DoH, GIZ, Philippine Dental Association, Save the Children) shared their joint achievements, including the new national WASH in School (SHN) policy and monitoring the three-star approach to WinS.
3.Upcoming events
Some of the upcoming events of interest to FRESH partners is as follows. Partners also requested to visit the FRESH partners site to get more information. Doug to provide all the active members of the FRESH group editing rights to update information on the site.
- Webinars on WASH in School Costing Framework: Organized by UNICEF, WASH and Institutions on 28th February and later in March. Webinar to present recent tools for costing WASH in schools constructions, as well as operations and maintenance. For more details contact Irene Amongin at UNICEF.
- UNESCO Week for Peace and Sustainable development- This UNESCO event for Peace and Sustainable Development will discuss the 'The Role of Education'. Discussions will address two UNESCO programmes, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED), and their practical contribution to achieving SDG target 4.7 (By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development,). The Week will focus on the issue of teachers and teacher training, and highlight best practices in the field of ESD and GCED.
- Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) – 13-24 March, New York. UNGEI and EI co-convening a side event looking at 'Teachers, Schools and Decent Work: The Imperative to End School-Related Gender-Based Violence'. For more details and to participate, contact Jenelle Babb at UNESCO.
- BZGA European Regional Conference on Sexuality Education, 15-16 May, Berlin. UNESCO a supporting partner.
- WHO World Health Assembly, 22-31 May, 2017, Geneva. The Global Framework for Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (the AA-HA Framework) expected to be presented. There is a huge SRH piece.
- UNAIDS Inter Agency Task Team (IATT) on Education and School Health Symposium, 10-11 May, 2017, Zambia. Concept note and Save the Date attached. Registration form to follow. Jenelle is the meeting focal point as UNESCO is secretariat. She would welcome the interest of FRESH partners who may wish to not only participate in the meeting but be interested in showcasing their work where it aligns to the symposium’s objectives. I’m happy to be contacted in this regard.
- CIES- please see notes from January 2017 meeting for details.