Beyond the Household: Everyday Experiences of Water Insecurity in an Urban Ghanaian Girls’ Boarding School
Topics:
Keywords: water, water insecurity, non-household water, school water, children’s water insecurity
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract
Authors:
Enoch Caswell Eshun, Kent State University
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Abstract
Water is indispensable to human survival in its many essential applications, including drinking, sanitation, and hygiene. Yet, over one billion of the world’s population lack reliable access to adequate safe water, resulting in death, disease, and socio-economic issues. This is in spite of international development efforts such as the Human Right to Water and the Sustainable Development Goals. A growing literature on water security has increased attention to the physical and relational aspects of the problem in recent times. However, it focuses on the situation among households and ignores non-household settings such as schools, healthcare facilities, and workplaces. Schools deserve a special attention, as children (a vulnerable and often unheard group) spend a considerable amount of time there. Sufficient and clean water in schools is crucial to improved learning, child health, and girls’ dignity. This study explores girls’ everyday experiences of water insecurity in boarding school in relation to their experiences at home. It is based on data from virtual interviews with 15 recent graduates and 5 staff of an urban Ghanaian girls’ boarding secondary school. The findings show common, persistent water insecurity experiences among girls in the school, which impacts their learning and well-being. These include frequent and prolonged water shortage, inadequate and inconvenient alternatives, and injuries, conflicts, and worry. The study also reveals contrasting and relatively favorable individual experiences of water at home. This study offers implications to increase research, policy, and programs on water in schools to enhance girls’ education, well-being, and dignity.
Beyond the Household: Everyday Experiences of Water Insecurity in an Urban Ghanaian Girls’ Boarding School
Category
Paper Abstract