Solomon Islands

Ellena is a fifth-grader who loves writing. When she grows up, she wants to be a teacher, inspired by some of the teachers at her primary school.

Ellena’s school didn’t use to have working toilets. Instead, when she and her classmates had to go to the bathroom, they went in a nearby river.

Unfortunately, this is common in the Solomon Islands where Ellena lives. Outside of urban areas, 78% of the population doesn’t have access to modern sanitation facilities and 33% don’t have reliable access to clean water. The old toilets at Ellena’s school were built more than ten years ago. They had fallen into disrepair and weren’t usable anymore.

Then, Plan partnered with a local organization in the Solomon Islands to increase access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and improve hygiene practices in her community. In collaboration with Live & Learn Environmental Education Solomon Islands, Plan built hand-washing stations and school toilets.

And, Ellena and the other students learned how and when to wash their hands in order to stay healthy. Now, they don’t have to worry about going to the bathroom in the river — instead, they can focus on learning and growing up!

Nesyln feels safe in her community — it’s when she has to leave that she worries. The bus stop is one of the places where she feels the most uncomfortable.

“Sometimes when I’m going into town and come back late, this place is unsafe for me,” she says. “When I’m dropped off from the bus, some people shout names at me and I feel hurt.”

Neslyn is part of Plan International’s Safer Cities for Girls project in Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon Islands. In one of the project’s activities, she and other young women in the area took part in a neighborhood safety walk. Together, they identified places where they feel unsafe, like the bus stop, and propose solutions.

“In the community, we should have more streetlights and more awareness,” Neslyn says. “We should talk about things that aren’t safe for girls.”

And now, those conversations are happening more frequently, thanks to the girls in the Safer Cities project. Plan includes local community leaders in safety walks and other activities, and helps girls advocate for the changes they want to see.

“Here girls are not involved in decision making in the community, but we have the right to,” Neslyn says. “It would be nice if we had more girls involved in making decisions, talking about girls’ rights. We need more girls.”