MAKING AN IMPACT: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

By: Carinne Meyer

Operation USA partnered with Honeywell Corporation in India to develop a corporate social responsibility strategy that would complement existing community service programs while increasing their impact on beneficiary communities. This summer, with support from Honeywell employees and partner organization, SAWED Trust, Operation USA created the Honeywell Healthy Schools Initiative (HHSI) which laid out a series of school-based health interventions targeting children’s specific health and hygiene needs at school.

Operation USA believes that going to a clean and healthy school is every child’s right. Many children in India do not have access to safe and clean sanitation facilities at school – particularly in rural areas. Many rural schools suffer from non-existent or insufficient sanitation facilities which are not safe for children due to neglect of the operation and maintenance. Schools often manage with broken fixtures, dirty, unsafe water, poor sanitation and hand washing facilities. In addition, toilets are not always adapted to the needs of children, in particular, girls.

The state of sanitation in schools leads to severe health risks. Children spend up to 40 hours a week at their schools and in the absence of clean facilities are exposed to bacteria, viruses and parasites that transmit infectious diseases like cholera and typhoid – diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of young students in schools around the world every year. Basic facilities such as latrines and hand-washing stations, alongside education about the connection between hygiene and disease can save lives.

This initiative is improving the health of children in rural schools and ensuring effective and healthy learning environments. The program provides the essential sanitation facilities, maintenance and education that children need to stay healthy. In addition, the program offers continuous support to teachers and children to develop skills, attitudes and knowledge on effective hygiene. In HHSI schools, weekly hygiene education promotes healthy practices and helps to prevent water and sanitation-related diseases. As an added benefit, children communicate their new behaviors and skills to their families and communities who use these new practices to achieve better health at home.

09/2007