147,000 CHILDREN SERVED DAILY
Project Stats
Start Date
2007
Scale & Scope
500 public schools
Target Population
150,000 children
Strategic Exit
2019
Nepal
Either from escaping a decade's-old civil war, seeking economic opportunities, or simply taking part in natural population trends that are happening all over the world, Nepal’s cities are being flooded by migrants from the countryside. So much so that 45% of those living in Nepal’s cities are considered “internal migrants”—moving from the countryside to the city in search of a better opportunity.
Total Population
29,000,000
The urban growth rate in Kathmandu is currently one of the fastest in all of South Asia
THE GOAL
Every Public School in Kathmandu
Kathmandu
Metro Population
1,744,240
Metro Pop. Density
20,288.9/km²
What did we do?
Splash's focus on Nepal, its second country after China, aimed at achieving 100% water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) coverage in the capital city of Kathmandu and the surrounding valley. The challenging water quality issues in Kathmandu, primarily due to shallow iron-filled wells and urban runoff pollution, demanded intricate, multi-layered solutions that differed from Splash's experiences in other countries.
Facing governmental transitions during startup, Splash established a local NGO, Splash Nepal, in 2011. The goal was to prove the 100% coverage model in one of Asia's poorest cities with severe water quality issues. To mitigate risks, former education officials and water quality professionals were invited to join the local board.
Despite early commitments to 10-year guarantees on their work, Splash realized the impracticality of such long-term contracts, hindering local ownership and fostering dependence. To promote independence for schools and increase safe water access at home, Splash piloted the creation of kiosks on school grounds, selling treated water to the community.
By 2015, Splash's presence in Kathmandu involved over 30 staff members, actively working in nearly half of all schools in the valley. Funding post-earthquake generated interest and financial support, with estimates suggesting 100% coverage by 2018. However, internal concerns in 2016 regarding financial controls and governance prompted an abrupt halt to growth operations.
In 2019, after careful consideration, Splash decided to transfer the operations of our Kathmandu office and move our staff over to our local implementing partner, SmartPaani. Long-term, this has been very positive for our sustainability in-country. In 2019, through our partnership with SmartPaani, Splash implemented our holistic WASH program at 15 schools with 5,197 students and staff. We also worked to reinforce the long-term sustainability of our work at 75 existing Splash sites, benefiting 53,722 students and staff through hygiene education refresher trainings and maintenance support.
What did we learn?
Our work in Nepal taught us that our WASH intervention strategy going forward needed to focus on all schools, city-wide. In order to achieve this, the government needs to be an active partner, both in its financial commitments as well as advocacy driving the work. Furthermore, building relationships with existing local partners was more advantageous than investment in Splash as a local NGO.
Read the most recent status report here.
Impact
Learn more about Splash's impact here.
DID YOU KNOW?
+20% of schoolchildren in Kathmandu work as domestic servants, restaurant workers, street vendors, and brick & industry workers.