Age
15
Country of Residence
Nigeria
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The idea behind WASH UP started when I began noticing a problem in my school. One afternoon, our class was almost empty, with only about 5 out of 17 students present. When our teacher asked where the others were, we explained that they had gone home to use the toilet, and some used it as an excuse not to return to school. I began wondering why we had toilets in school that we could not comfortably use simply because there was no water. The next day, I asked my teacher, “Sir, is there no way we can have water in the school?” He jokingly told me that I could drill a borehole for the school. I then suggested that he announce during assembly that every student should come to school with a 2-litre keg of water. I did not know that this simple suggestion would become the beginning of something bigger. Through the Time for Change student leadership initiative, we discussed the idea with other students and began thinking about how to make it happen. The biggest challenge was funding. At one point, a student joked that we would dig the borehole one foot every term because we had no money. Although it was said as a joke, it made me realise that we could not allow a lack of resources to stop us from trying. That was how WASH UP began. I want to help make our school a place where students can use clean toilets without leaving school and missing lessons.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
I encourage others to join WASH UP by helping them understand how poor sanitation affects our health, dignity, and education. I share what is happening in my school and explain how students leave during lessons to use toilets elsewhere, sometimes without returning. I have help people to see that this is not just a toilet problem; it is also a problem that affects learning and students’ future. So far, I have engaged four other students who work with me as a team of five. Chidimma Sunday helps create awareness among students, Blessing Akubouku encourages student participation as Senior Girl Prefect, Joy Nwakpa leads hygiene awareness as Health Prefect, and Hannah Stephen coordinates toilet cleaning as Labour Prefect. Together, we have raised awareness, encouraged students to bring water from home, sourced water from local tankers, and cleaned two of our eight toilets, which are now in use. Our efforts have contributed to a recorded 20% decrease in students leaving school to use toilets elsewhere. I also encourage students to contribute ideas and take responsibility instead of waiting for someone else to solve the problem. In the future, I plan to organise meetings with student leaders from other schools facing similar challenges. I will share our experience, explain what has worked and what has not, and encourage them to form their own student-led WASH teams.
How many people are on your team?
5
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
So far, my team and I have created awareness about the sanitation problem in our school and started taking action. We have cleaned 2 of the 8 school toilets, and these two are now in use. We also started a temporary system where students bring water from home, while we source water from local tankers. This has made a difference: we have recorded about a 20% decrease in the number of students leaving school to use toilets elsewhere. However, this is not sustainable. Students should not have to carry water to school every day just to use a toilet. It is an extra burden, and relying on local water tankers means that whenever we run out of water, we are back to square one. We also cannot guarantee a consistent supply or hygienic storage. Most importantly, two functioning toilets are not enough for over 500 students, and we have not yet been able to provide a safe and comfortable space for girls during their menstrual periods. The impact we hope to achieve is bigger: provide a reliable borehole water system, restore all 8 toilets, and create a student-led WASH structure to keep the facilities clean and functional. We expect this to further reduce students leaving school, improve attendance and learning time, and give every student, especially girls, the dignity and convenience of using a clean toilet at school.
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Growth (We’ve moved past the very first activities and are beginning to have consistent weekly or monthly impact)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Odinakachi’s WASH UP initiative addresses poor sanitation at Community Comprehensive High School, where the lack of water has rendered all school toilets unusable. With over 35% of students reportedly leaving the school to use toilets elsewhere, she aims to mobilise community support to install a borehole, restore the toilets, and establish student-led hygiene activities. This will improve attendance, mensural dignity for females, and recover 40% lost learning time for over 500 students.
Project title
WASH UP
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure at Community Comprehensive High School, Orita J4, Ogun State, has severely impacted student health, dignity, and instructional continuity. Due to a complete absence of running water, 100% of the school's structural toilets are non-functional, forcing over 35% of students to leave campus during school hours to find water and sanitation. This results in a sharp 40% drop in afternoon class attendance and causes adolescent girls to lose 3 to 5 instructional days every month during their menstrual cycles. Concurrently, open defecation along school boundaries creates severe environmental sanitation hazards. This problem matters because every student deserves a clean, safe, and dignified learning environment. Project WASH UP (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Project) seeks to address this challenge by providing a borehole, installing water storage facilities, restoring the existing toilets, and promoting proper hygiene practices. This project seeks ₦1,200,000 in funding and community partnerships to serve over 500 students and staff, recover 20–25% of lost instructional time for female learners, eliminate open defecation, and establish a self-sustaining school sanitation model.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://www.facebook.com/share/19VCupW21g/
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, I plan to grow WASH UP in stages. Months 1–3 is already ongoing. We have met with community stakeholders, business owners, and organisations that support education, health, and sanitation for funding. We have also achieved our temporary efforts to keep the two cleaned toilets usable with the water students brings from home. In months 4–6, our goal is to raise the ₦1,200,000 needed to drill a borehole and install a water pump, storage tanks, and pipes. Once funding is secured, we will work with the school and qualified professionals to install the system and restore all eight toilets. In months 7–8, we plan to establish the WASH UP Club and School WASH Committee to coordinate hygiene education, regular toilet cleaning, and maintenance. We will also monitor the condition of the toilets and changes in the number of students leaving school during lessons. In months 9–10, we will document our progress and lessons and begin engaging student leaders from other schools facing similar sanitation challenges. We will share our experience and help them develop practical WASH action plans for their schools. In months 11–12, we aim to support interested schools in forming student-led WASH teams and connect them with teachers, school management, community leaders, and potential partners. We will review our progress and identify ways to strengthen the project.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
What makes WASH UP different is that it goes beyond providing water and cleaning toilets. It is a student-led approach that combines practical action, community involvement, and a plan to inspire students in other schools to solve similar problems. In my school, we have started with the little resources available to us. We created awareness, encouraged students to bring water from home, sourced water from local tankers, and cleaned two of our eight toilets. These efforts have shown us that young people can take action, but we have also learned that temporary solutions are not enough. Our long-term plan is to install a borehole, water pump, storage tanks, and pipes connected to the toilets. Our innovation also lies in how we want to spread the solution beyond our school. We are organising student leaders from other schools to learn about WASH UP, understand how we identified the problem, and see how students can mobilise their peers, teachers, school management, and community members to address it. Rather than waiting for one organisation to solve every school's sanitation problem, we want to build a network of young leaders who can adapt the WASH UP approach to the needs of their own schools. Each participating school can begin by identifying its sanitation challenges, raising awareness, taking practical steps with available resources, and seeking support for lasting improvements. We also plan to promote student-led WASH clubs and school committees to encourage hygiene, regular cleaning, and proper maintenance. We are especially concerned about how poor sanitation affects girls during menstruation and how students lose valuable learning time when they leave school to use toilets elsewhere.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
My solution is WASH UP (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Project), a student-led initiative aimed at restoring functional toilets and improving access to water and sanitation in schools. The problem is not peculiar to my school. Other nearby schools and underserved communities face similar challenges. I want to start with my school, learn from the experience, and gradually extend the solution to other schools across Ogun State. Our first step is to provide a reliable water supply by drilling a borehole and installing a pumping system, overhead storage tanks, pipes, and taps connected to the school toilets. We will then clean and repair the existing facilities to make them functional and hygienic. This will help reduce the number of students who leave school during lessons to use toilets elsewhere and give girls a more comfortable environment to manage their menstrual hygiene. Since drilling a borehole requires significant funding, we also have a temporary plan. While seeking support for the permanent water system, we will provide large water storage drums near the toilets, which students can help fill with water brought from home. This will allow us to begin addressing the problem while fundraising continues. I also want WASH UP to promote lasting change, not just provide infrastructure. I plan to work with fellow students, teachers, school management, community leaders, and business owners to establish a student-led WASH UP Club and a School WASH Committee. We will monitor the condition of the facilities and changes in student attendance to understand our impact. Once we have tested our approach and identified what works, we hope to partner with other schools and community stakeholders to replicate the project in underserved communities across Ogun State.
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Our team has five student members. I, Odinakachi, coordinate WASH UP and guide our activities. Chidimma Sunday leads peer awareness and mobilises students. Blessing Akubouku, the Senior Girl Prefect, coordinates student participation. Joy Nwakpa, the Health Prefect, leads hygiene education. Hannah Stephen, the Labour Prefect, coordinates toilet cleaning. We share ideas, divide tasks, and make decisions together, with everyone contributing to our common goal.
