The Life-Cycle Costs of School Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Access in Kenyan Primary Schools

Kelly T. Alexander, Alex Mwaki, Dorothy Adhiambo, Malaika Cheney-Coker, Richard Muga and Matthew C. Freeman
Additional contact information
Kelly T. Alexander: CARE USA, 151 Ellis St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30307, USA
Alex Mwaki: CARE Kenya, Mucai Road P.O. Box 43864-GPO, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Dorothy Adhiambo: CARE Kenya, Mucai Road P.O. Box 43864-GPO, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Malaika Cheney-Coker: CARE USA, 151 Ellis St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30307, USA
Richard Muga: Department of Health Sciences, Great Lakes University of Kisumu, P.O. Box 2224, Kisumu 40100, Kenya
Matthew C. Freeman: Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programs in schools can increase the health, dignity and comfort of students and teachers. Understanding the costs of WASH facilities and services in schools is one essential piece for policy makers to utilize when budgeting for schools and helping to make WASH programs more sustainable. In this study we collected data from NGO and government offices, local hardware shops and 89 rural primary schools across three Kenyan counties. Current expenditures on WASH, from school and external (NGO, government, parent) sources, averaged 1.83 USD per student per year. After reviewing current expenditures, estimated costs of operations and maintenance for bringing schools up to basic WASH standards, were calculated to be 3.03 USD per student per year. This includes recurrent costs, but not the cost of installing or setting up WASH infrastructure, which was 18,916 USD per school, for a school of 400 students (4.92 USD per student, per year). These findings demonstrate the need for increases in allocations to schools in Kenya, and stricter guidance on how money should be spent on WASH inputs to enable all schools to provide basic WASH for all students.

Keywords: life-cycle cost; school; WASH; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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