The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our lives since early 2020. Children suffer especially under the outbreak, as it is estimated that, globally, over one billion school children are staying home (as at June 2020) with a high number of children not continuing their education online. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 outbreak has been addressed and controlled in some countries, and gradually workplaces, public spaces and schools are reopening.

To ensure that the proper precautions continue to take place, United Nations organizations and their partners have developed and shared guidelines and checklists to support the reopening of schools. However, it is still of uttermost importance to support countries in the implementation of these guidelines, as previous International Learning Exchanges (ILEs) have shown. Even without a global pandemic Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools (WinS) is an extreme challenge. According to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for WASH latest figures from 2019, one third of the countries in the East Asia and Pacific area had less than 50 % of schools with basic hygiene facilities available. Since 2012 UNICEF and GIZ therefore initiated ILEs in the East Asia and Pacific region, where government representatives from different countries could exchange their experiences and learn from each other.

Under the global pandemic, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) co-hosted a Mini-ILE with support from UNICEF, GIZ, and the members of the WASH in Schools (WinS) Global Network.

Bibliographic information

Engel, L. and Monse, B. (2021). VIRTUAL MINI WinS-ILE REPORT 2021 Regional “Fit For School” Programme; Sector Programme “Sustainable Sanitation”

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