A Simple Cost Calculator for WASH in Kenyan Schools Open Access
Brands, Jordan (Spring 2020)
Abstract
Introduction: In 80% of countries, WASH funding is inadequate to meet the SDG goals in 2030, and 75% report their WASH programs have either not been fully funded or implemented. Inadequate financing, lack of political will, and a general misunderstanding about budgeting for WASH have been among the critical barriers to establishing quality WASH in schools’ programs. Within Kenya, most schools do not have a budgeting plan and report low levels of achieving government standard levels of WASH in schools. The purpose of this study was to identify what the costs are to maintain a “basic” WASH program in Kenyan schools based on each school individual characteristics.
Methods: We used data from 189 rural and urban schools from six different counties in Kenya to determine actual school expenditures on 30 different line items within their respective WASH programs. Data were disaggregated by location, school level, primary water source, and latrine type to ascertain the differing drivers of cost. The costs per pupil for the differing costs were bootstrapped to control for the non-parametric nature of the data in order to provide a more accurate calculation of the mean cost.
Results: The cost per pupil for each line item varied considerably based on the school characteristics. Generally rural schools had lower operating costs but were less likely to have critical hygiene and health products for students. We utilized the recommendations from the Kenyan government to provide assumptions for costs that would allow schools to meet the national requirements. We found schools frequently did not spend enough to meet national targets and there was a large variability in spending based on WASH variables.
Conclusion: Within Kenya, information on budgeting in the WASH sector is limited with some of the least information available for school WASH. There is very limited budgeting done by school officials and inadequate financing available to maintain the existing programs. School leaders need to utilize the budget estimations to both establish a school wide budget and lobby the Boards of Management for increased funding.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 1
2. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 13
3. METHODS ............................................................................................................................... 17
4. RESULTS ................................................................................................................................. 25
5. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................... 38
6. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS ....................................................................................... 44
7. PUBLIC HEALTH AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS ............................................................. 45
8. RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................................... 46
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 47
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