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Project / Handwashing Education for students - Orestiada

History Being the northernmost part of Greece, bordering Turkey, and politically unstable with the refugee crisis and the Fylakio refugee center, and a rural area, Orestiada is poor in infrastructure and the education system is not well supported, not to mention that Greece is still trying to rise as it comes out from austerity measures. Orestiada lies in Rotary District 2484 with many schools, a university, a poor Hygiene education program, and old worn-out facilities that have not been updated for over 40 years. The Rotarian George Dimitriadis leading this project was a student in one of those schools and observes that there was little to no hygiene instruction. 20 years later, George, the other Rotarians, and their friends from the community, most of them parents and grandparents, find that nothing has changed. The students still have poor hygiene habits and the little teaching of hygiene and sanitation there, if available, is very poor and not targeted nor leading to any substantial change as you can see from the attached survey results. Beneficiaries The proposed project aims to benefit 6391students from kindergarten to high school from 51 schools in the area of Orestiada and all future students for the next 5 years in addition to the students matriculating at the university on a voluntary basis to ensure a sustainable WASH curriculum and significant impact. The awareness campaign will be the same as the schools on the LED screens of the sanitizer stations and whatever they wish to display around campus. THE GOAL is to improve the hygiene behavior and education of the students not only through the distribution and installment of hand sanitizer stations, one or more in ratio with student numbers and building layout, at key positions accessible to all students, able and disabled, but through the improvement or establishment of hygiene classes and workshops into the curriculum. Additionally, and in this pandemic, Covid-19 protocols, which comprise restricting campus to students and staff only at the moment, will be improved through the hand hygiene campaign and the sanitization stations to minimize the impact on the children and all staff. Improved hygiene implies disease prevention and not only for Covid-19 as per the prioritization by the World Bank and UNICEF: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.BASS.ZS?locations=GR&view=map https://data.unicef.org/topic/water-and-sanitation/hygiene/ https://data.unicef.org/resources/state-of-the-worlds-hand-hygiene/ Although the official data states that most Greeks access basic sanitation facilities, the reality in Greece is contradicted by the following study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34246184/ Medical professionals are not receiving the appropriate training as shown by the Results and the following Conclusion: ‘’Conclusion: In our study, medical students scored better in practices questions than nursing students; this did not apply for the knowledge score. The majority of students supported the inclusion of compulsory education on hand hygiene principles in their Departments' curricula, highlighting compulsory education and seminars as the most effective measures to increase compliance with hand hygiene.’’ Then it is not surprising that the general population does not practice proper Hygiene in spite of having access to basic facilities. The results of the survey attached and the community-based assessment confirm that students and teachers are not provided with the appropriate training and there is an absence of a proper WASH curriculum at schools. Objectives In summary and in order to address the issues identified with the beneficiaries, local community and the authorities through the community-based assessment phase, the objectives are: 1. To identify the resources and secure local and international partnerships and collaboration that addresses the issues identified through the Community Based Assessment with the help of the greater Rotary network. 2. To deliver a sustainable and measurable design, including a training module and age-appropriate curricula, that is scalable. 3. To secure the engagement of the beneficiaries and the wider community to help in the improvement and delivery of hand-hygiene education. 4. To strengthen the system by gaining the engagement of the community and the local government which will bridge a two-way support system independent of further external involvement. 5. To support and leverage the achievements of this project for other initiatives within Orestiada and beyond in Greece. What is also encouraging and allows for sustainability and scalability by strengthening the system beyond this project is that we have the engagement of: • Government’s Institutions: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Department of Education and the public schools under their jurisdiction • The University on Orestiada area • 400 teachers representing all 51 schools and the University • Unofficially many parents from the community expressed support • Medical doctors volunteering from a jurisdiction outside of the Orestiada area • Orestiada Mayor’s office The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Department of Education will be ensuring the representation of all the schools so that at least two dedicated staff from each school can become school trainers. To implement further data collection and reporting as per below, we’ll be using the same survey accompanying this application so that we can follow the progress and MEASURE the impact. Hopefully, the improvement that the system is making when fully implemented will allow us and the partners to tweak the different parts of the system as we learn what is working and what needs improvement in the process. The Orestiada Mayor’s office, that has dedicated a full ongoing budgetary commitment, will be overseeing the departments of education to secure the implementation of the project, as well as active participation through the storage, distribution and maintenance of the sanitization stations to which they have committed, as per the MOU attached, including the replenishment of sanitizer liquid and replacement of the devices in case of damage or end of life. Videos and photos will be uploaded to the social media and groups of the Rotary Club of Orestiada in order to leverage the opportunity of spreading awareness while building on the impact and promoting TRF’s work and Rotary’s profile in the area. This is only part of the REPORTING. There will be quarterly reports from the Mayor’s Office to the project Team based on the reports and data analysis from the survey by the Departments of Education. Please check the schedule in the MOU for the expected timeline and type of reporting as the data comes in. If we face delays or learned modifications, we will report that in a timely manner to ensure the engagement of the Rotarians involved, their clubs, the district and TRF as this will be a learning process for all those involved in the community and in Rotary. There will also be quarterly meetings with key representatives from the project team, the Mayor’s office and the departments of education to track, modify and implement necessary changes, as well as a final Lessons learned section in the final report. We hope that this project will encourage other teams and clubs in other areas to take similar initiatives as they are badly needed in Greece, especially in areas outside the major metropolitan areas. In fact, the medical team who has volunteered for this project has expressed interest pending the success of this project in building upon their experience in this one to implement a similar initiative in the area of Veria and George has already received further interest from three neighbouring Cities in Greece. The project has already the approval from TRF and our regional officer to submit. Needs financial help.

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