Children Hygiene and Sanitation Training (Chast) – Teacher’s Manual Adapted for Solomon Islands

One of the most important strategies a WASH program should consider to transform behaviours is the active targeting of and promotion among children of knowledge of good hygiene practices to prevent diseases related to water and environmental sanitation. Targeting children with specific hygiene promotion activities not only has an immediate impact on their individual health, but also has an active effect on other members of children’s families and the broader community. Because children can easily communicate and share the knowledge acquired with their peers and do not hesitate to express their ideas about unhygienic behaviour by their family and other community members, when equipped with the right knowledge and practices, they can become highly effective agents of change throughout the community.

The Children Hygiene and Sanitation Training (CHAST) is a hygiene promotion methodology aiming to promote good practices among school-age children. Initially developed by CARITAS in 2002 for rural schools and communities in Somalia, it has since been adapted to several other contexts.

CHAST incorporates in its methodology the concept of the “Child to Child” approach, which encourages active interaction and impacts among children of the same age group through their exchange of the knowledge they acquire and expression of opinions, and through instruction to other children through example setting and behaviour modelling.