A photobook showcasing the school sanitation situation photographed by children.
Published on: 14/10/2025
IRC Uganda developed a photobook to serve as a powerful call to action for dignified sanitation and menstrual health in schools. Through photovoice, we empowered children to document their experiences with sanitation and hygiene in their schools. As part of the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund project, this approach gave students a voice, highlighting both the challenges they face and the solutions that have helped.
Photovoice is more than just taking pictures — it’s a participatory storytelling method that empowers individuals to document and reflect on their realities through photography. By placing cameras in the hands of participants, photovoice transforms them from “subjects” into storytellers, enabling them to express experiences, challenges, and aspirations that might otherwise go unheard.
IRC Uganda adopted this approach to capture the voices and lived experiences of girls and boys in rural schools, to better understand the challenges they face and the impact of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions on their lives.
In Uganda, a country rich in diversity with more than 60 languages spoken, communication barriers often limit how children share their realities. For many, especially girls in rural schools, speaking openly about WASH issues can be daunting. Cultural taboos around menstrual hygiene deepen the silence, leaving critical needs unspoken and unmet. This photobook is a response to that silence. It captures children’s stories through their own lenses, languages, and experiences — stories that might otherwise remain invisible.
“These photographs are calls to action. Each frame captures a lived experience that urges us to listen, to understand, and to act. Let these voices—captured in light and framed with purpose inspire our next course of action.” – Jane Nabunnya Mulumba, country director IRC Uganda
The photobook reveals stories of hardship, resilience, everyday victories, and innovative local solutions to WASH challenges. It includes powerful visual narratives from students like Hope, sharing her first experience with menstruation; John, reflecting on the cleanliness of his school environment; and Abraham, who built a handwashing station for his classmates. Each photograph carries hope for a future where access to safe water, dignified sanitation, and menstrual health services is a right fulfilled for every child.
This photobook is part of the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund project, funded under UNOPS, which aims to unlock market potential for sanitation and hygiene, and to create sustainable sanitation economies and menstrual hygiene markets.
The images were captured in 30 schools across seven districts — Kabarole, Kayunga, Buikwe, Kamuli, Buyende, Luuka, and Kole — as part of ongoing efforts to document and strengthen school WASH initiatives.
For advocates of school sanitation and hygiene, this photobook is more than an enjoyable read, it is a valuable tool for advocating for change and amplifying children’s voices, mobilizing resources to support WASH in schools, and identifying and developing investable propositions to drive progress toward local and national sanitation and hygiene targets. We hope this resource can be a catalyst to build ecosystems that support sustainable sanitation economies and menstrual hygiene markets for both schools and communities.
