SUMMARY
As of July 2018, 78,558 Syrian refugees were registered in Zaatari camp, located in Mafraq governorate.1 The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is the lead agency in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector in Za’atari and has coordinated all related activities in the camp since its opening in 2012. 2 ACTED, JEN and Oxfam have operated as key partners in the implementation of WASH activities in the camp, including delivery of treated water through a free water trucking service, the collection of waste water and solid waste, building, repair and maintenance of private WASH facilities, and hygiene promotion activities.3 Six years after the onset of the Syrian crisis, UNICEF, in coordination with its implementing partners, has been shifting towards greater sustainability of programming. As a result, Za’atari Waste water Network (WWN) has been constructed in order to connect every household in the camp to a common waste water disposal system. The simultaneous construction of private toilet facilities in each household was also a more cost-efficient and sustainable solution to WASH needs than communal facilities.4 Between 4 and 12 of July 2018, REACH conducted a Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey in Za’atari camp to evaluate camp residents’ current knowledge, attitude and practices towards WASH and to assess the changes that have taken place since the last KAP survey in 2017 conducted by Oxfam in Za’atari camp5 . More specifically, it assesses the impact of the construction of the new water network on hygiene and sanitation practices of households located in district 8 as well as the level of awareness of all of the camp’s residents about the establishment of cluster focal points.In addition, this assessment provides a thorough understanding of the camp residents’ perceptions of UNICEF’s WASH implementing partners’ effectiveness in delivering WASH related information and WASH services and their relationships with UNICEF’s WASH implementing partners’ staff. Lastly, this assessment aims to strengthen future programming of humanitarian actors involved in WASH activities in Za’atari camp as well as to inform UNICEF’s efforts to shift towards greater sustainability of programming.
The assessment employed a quantitative methodology and data was collected through randomly selected household interviews in all 12 districts of the camp. In total, 400 households were interviewed for this KAP survey, proportionally stratified by the number of households in each district, producing results that are generalizable to the population within the camp with a 95% level of confidence and 5% margin of error.The assessment found that, overall, Za’atari residents’ knowledge, attitudes and practices towards hygiene and sanitation is good, and there have been no substantial changes from 2017 in terms of resident’s knowledge, attitude and practices. Furthermore, it showed that UNICEF’s shift towards longer-term, sustainable WASH programming is proving successful across the camp. The majority of households are taking ownership of the waste water network and the construction of the water network represents an improvement in water provision. While camp residents are becoming familiar with the role of cluster focal points, additional trainings would be beneficial to support camp residents in developing the skills required to use the tools provided by the cluster focal points. Overall camp residents’ perceptions of UNICEF’s WASH implementing partners’ effectiveness in delivering WASH related information and WASH services as well as their relationships with ACTED and Oxfam staff are positive.
Key findings from the KAP survey are presented below, structured by thematic area.
Water supply
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For more than half of households (70%) the main source of water for cleaning and washing comes from the household’s private tank with water provided by WASH actors. More than half of households (67.3%) also use water from their private tank for cooking purposes. Just over a quarter of households rely on purchased/bottled water as their main source of drinking water (26.7%), the majority of which are located in districts 5, 8 and 10. Households in district 8 may be more likely to rely on bottled water due to reported issues in functionality of the newly established water network, the first district to be connected.
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More than half of households (67.3%) of household are aware that each household member is entitled of 35 litres of water daily. Districts 2, 8, 10, 12 have the highest portion of households that reported a lack of awareness on water provision quantity.
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The most commonly reported mechanisms to ensure water quality were keeping water tanks closed (60.0%) and cleaning private water tanks (59.3%). However, some of the respondents reported lack of skills and equipment necessary to clean their water tank.
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Overall, households tend to contact directly UNICEF's WASH implementing partner's to issue a complaint.
55.5% of households reportedly contacted ACTED while 24.5% contacted Oxfam, depending on their house location and the organisation’s coverage.
- In terms of complaint mechanisms, 23.5% of the respondents are not aware of the available methods to issue a complaint. Of those who could name at least one complaint mechanism, the most commonly reported methods to issue a complaint regarding WASH services are in person (69.6%) and calling the complaint number (44.2%).
Water network
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At the time of the assessment, district 8 was the only district connected to the newly constructed water network. Slightly more than half (63.8%) of households in district 8 reported improvements in their supply of water since the construction of the water network. Of the households that reported negative consequences due to the construction of the water network (23.4%), the majority reported issues with water provision’s reliability.
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For all other households (i.e. all those not in district 8 who are not yet connected to the water network) who reported concerns about the future water network, the most commonly reported concerns were related to insufficient water quantity (55%), a lack of reliability in the provision of water (54%) and unequal distribution of water (36%).
Household sanitation facilities and services
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Nearly all households (99.3%) reported having a private toilet on the premises, with 0.7% (a total of three households) reporting to not. Of the households that reported having a private toilet, the majority (82.9%) have a toilet that meet UNICEF's standards. The vast majority (97.3%) of households reported that both their kitchen and bathroom are fully connected to the WWN. Overall, the vast majority of households perceived the WWN as an improvement in their situation (89.7%).
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The majority of households (80.2%) are aware of the presence of the Cluster Focal Point (CFP) or are a CFP themselves. Of those who were aware of CFPs, the majority (87.8%) knew they could borrow tools from them, but only 35.2% have actually chosen to do so.
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The majority of households (91.5%) living in district 8 are aware they are responsible to take care of their water network at the household level. 76.5% of households living in other districts believe they should be responsible for the water network at the household level once they are connected to it.
Recycling and solid waste management
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More than half (66.3%) of households reported always recycling household waste, while 18.5% reported recycling sometimes, showing that separating garbage for recycling is a relatively common practice in Za'atari. However 15% of households reported never separating their garbage for recycling.
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Only 8.8% of those who recycle reported facing issues, such as lack of frequency in garbage collection.
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The overwhelming majority of households are aware that transporting garbage from the household to the communal bin is their responsibility (98.3%)
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Households are generally informed about the consequences of improperly disposing of solid waste. 65% of households are aware of the health risks and increased likelihood of disease spreading due to poor waste management. The remaining (35%) did not report the likelihood of disease spreading suggesting their lack of awareness about consequences of poor waste management.
Hygiene promotion
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Households are aware of the measures to be undertaken in order to keep prepared food safe, with 64.8% of respondents reporting to keep food in the fridge and 36.3% reporting to consume it within six hours if not in the fridge.
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Most households (91.7%) are aware of at least one measure to prevent diarrhoea such as washing hands before eating (66.8%), washing hands after going to the toilet (53.8%) and eating safe food (41.0%). The most reported home treatments for diarrhoea are eating starch (64.8%) and drinking safe fluids (33.0%).
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The most commonly reported practices to prevent head lice are avoiding crowded places (42.5%) and applying anti-lice lotion (40%).
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Households are generally aware of the critical times to wash hands as they reported washing their hands after using the latrine (84.5%), before eating (68.5%) and before preparing food (56%).
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The vast majority of women (91.0%) reported using sanitary towels during menstruation (an additional 3% of women reported not using anything or did not want to answer the question) and overall are satisfied with the method of disposing of them.
Community mobilization
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Slightly more than half of households (55.0%) received information from an ACTED or Oxfam mobilisation team in the three months prior to the assessment, while 32.2% reported having not received any information, and 12.8% reported not to know.
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Those who had received information (55.0%) reported this had been regarding personal hygiene (45.9%) and water network safety (44.5%).
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Over half of households reported having gone to an ACTED or Oxfam community centre (60%), while a smaller proportion reported never going to the community centres in the camp (37%).
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The most commonly reported reason for going to the community centres are to attend community sessions (51.7%), to issue complaints (50.8%) and to get information (29.6%).
Complaint mechanisms and WASH services satisfaction -
The most commonly reported method for issuing a complaint was calling the hotline (59.5%) and feedback at the community centre (44.5%).
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11.5% of household are not aware of a single complaint mechanism, with significantly more in districts 2, 3 and 6.
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According to 92% of households, ACTED and Oxfam are open and willing to listen to them and 90.5% feel well respected and treated by WASH staff. Of those that are aware of at least one complaint mechanism, 55.8% of households are satisfied with the complaint mechanisms provided.
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On average, the majority of households are at least satisfied with WASH services.