Alignment and Integration
GIZ is an active member of the WASH in Schools (WinS) Technical Working Group led by the Department of Education (DepEd). In line with the principles of alignment and integration, the programme contributed to the development of the Implementation Guidelines for WASH in Schools of the Department of Education, under which the EHCP has been integrated.
Supporting the Implementation of National Guidelines
The Philippine Department of Education is currently moving towards sustaining and scaling-up the WASH in Schools (WinS) to achieve a national thrust towards healthy learners – and subsequently, achieve target learning outcomes. For this purpose, the Department is developing the National Policy and Guidelines for a Comprehensive Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in School – a policy that defines the standards for WASH, as well as other relevant areas of the essential Health Care Programme of the Department. Recognizing the importance of the initiative, GIZ is providing technical assistance to the DepEd in the implementation of this policy.
The learnings from the Philippines experience in developing and implementing a national WinS policy are being used by ministries of education in Southeast Asia and Africa. Government representatives from Guinea and Bhutan have visited the Philippines to learn from the experience in developing the national WinS program.
Monitoring and Evaluation
GIZ supported the development of the DepEd’s Three Star Approach for WASH in Schools that provides the implementing mechanism for its WinS policy as an integrated system for quality assurance, monitoring, and recognition that is embedded within the governance and operations processes of DepEd.
The Philippines is a leader in the region with regards to WinS monitoring and implementation of the Three Star Approach for WASH in Schools. The first nation-wide round of WinS monitoring in 2018 had 66% of public schools participating on a voluntary basis, rising up to 88% in by 2020. The progress made over the three years is impressive as the proportion of schools being able to comply with five crucial indicators equivalent to the Basic Service Level in the SDGs for WASH in Schools has tripled from 9% to 27%.
capacity development
WinS Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) were developed with support of GIZ, through its Regional Fit for School Program, and the SEAMEO INNOTECH to support the Department of Education’s roll-out of its WinS policy.
The WinS MOOC is a training solution that is digitally adapted to reach scale and provides uniform implementation guidance to Division-level personnel, school heads, WinS coordinators, and teachers all over the country.
Two self-paced MOOCs, each equivalent to 40 training hours, were developed for WinS:
1) Leading WinS – a school-level WinS MOOC designed to help school heads and school WinS coordinators improve the quality of WinS implementation in schools by learning the WinS policy, monitoring the programmeand planning for improvements; and
2) Accelerating WinS – a division-level WinS MOOC to help Division personnel organize, understand their Division-wide data and plan for technical assistance on WinS programmemanagement to schools.
In both courses, the integration of different interactive activities (e.g. discussion forum, peer review) encourages interaction among learners to share best practices, learn from co-learners, and motivate each other. Throughout the course, different videos are available from successful implementers of WinS to motivate and inspire the learners to do the same in their respective schools and divisions.
By strengthening capacities on WinS through these MOOCs, it ultimately aims to improve the WASH conditions in schools and create a safe, conducive to learning environment for the learners.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
