For immediate release: February 2, 2009

Media Contact:    Stephanie Kaleva

Hands-on water education materials are being adopted by Malawi schools to teach children the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene.

Bozeman, Montana, 02 Feb., 2009 – Project WET’s successful water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) education materials, developed in 2008 with funding from USAID, are being distributed to all 5,500 schools in Malawi.

The Malawi Ministry of Education, in partnership with UNICEF Malawi, has incorporated the Project WET hands-on WASH education materials into its new water curriculum project, impacting millions of students across the country in urban and rural schools. 

“Part of our initial project with USAID was to deliver the then-new WASH materials to schools in sub-Saharan Africa.  We received a resounding response – 2,700 schools in 29 countries requested the materials,” said John Etgen, Project WET senior vice president.

“Because we only had enough materials to meet the needs of 1,000 schools in 16 countries, the Malawi Ministry of Education and UNICEF Malawi created posters from two of the pages in one of our books.  This was a cost-effective solution that enabled Project WET to expand the reach of its WASH materials while addressing water curriculum needs in Malawi.”  

As a result of this project, millions of Malawian children will learn: 

• the importance of water in their daily lives.
• how to use clean water to stay healthy.
• techniques for preventing illness such as hand-washing and covering water sources to prevent malaria.

“Project WET made a commitment to develop education materials on water, sanitation, hygiene, and health (WASH) at a UNICEF-sponsored meeting in Oxford, England in 2006.  The Malawi Ministry of Education and UNICEF Malawi have enabled Project WET to further this commitment and expand its goal of educating people and saving lives in Africa,” said Dennis Nelson, Project WET President and CEO.

About Project WET

Since 1984, Project WET, an award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has dedicated itself to the mission of reaching children, parents, teachers and community members of the world with water education.  Project WET achieves its mission of worldwide water education by:

• publishing water resource materials in several languages.
  
• providing training workshops on diverse water topics (i.e., watersheds, water quality, water conservation).
  
• organizing community water events, such as Make a Splash with Project WET water festivals and the Global Water Education Village™.
  
• building a worldwide network of educators, water resource professionals and scientists.

On the web at www.projectwet.org.