Hosted by The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport the launching event on Fit for School Phase III was supported by GIZ Cambodia and SEAMEO INNOTECH. Held on 26th November 2018 at The Phnom Penh Hotel, the event was opened by H.E. Kim Sethany, the Secretary of State of MoEYS, with participation of officials of Provincial and District Offices of Education from all 25 provinces in Cambodia, as well as development partners working on WASH and the Minimum Requirement Guidelines on WASH in Schools (WinS) in Cambodia, and representatives from the Ministries of Rural Development, Health, and Economy and Finance.
After the passionate opening remarks by H.E. Kim Sethany, highlighting the importance of WASH and its linkages with other aspects of health like nutrition, the event included a review of the second phase of the Fit for School program and the achievements to date. Part of these were presented in the official launch of the “Kampot Scale-Up Success Factor Study,” presented by Mr. Kao Rith, the Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Education, Youth, and Sport of Kampot province. This was followed by a presentation by Mrs. Eith Thitthida, as a representative of the Fit for School program´s implementation partner, the School Health Department, in which she presented current data on WinS in Cambodia and introduced attendees to the newly developed Minimum Requirement Guidelines for WinS training package. The nation-wide roll-out of this training package will be supported by Fit for School in its third phase, which was outlined in the final presentation of the day, highlighting objectives and planned activities for Cambodia.
The event successfully sparked interest in the program´s findings and activities, with numerous questions and suggestions raised from the audience. Attendees suggested to not only work in primary education but to also encompass pre-primary education, and to consider scaling-up to more provinces, with several provincial representatives approaching the team to express their interest in a closer cooperation.
Fit for School has been active in Cambodia through the Regional Fit for School program since 2011, finishing its second phase November 2018. The third phase will support the School Health Department of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport from December 2018 to May 2020, with a focus on further scale-up of successful WASH interventions, with a focus on monitoring along the national guidelines for WinS and helping schools improve step-by-step.
The Kampot Scale-Up Success Factor Study can be downloaded on the Fit for School website: http://www.fitforschool.international/resource/research-update-cambodia-kampot-province-scale-up-success-factors/