<![CDATA[Theatre for Development (TfD) has been used across Nigeria to mobilise communities around water and health challenges, but its application to school water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in Calabar has not been grounded in school-specific evidence. Advocacy projects risk devising performances around general assumptions rather than the actual conditions and behaviours of the schools they seek to reach. This paper establishes an empirical baseline for a TfD intervention on school WASH in Calabar South and Calabar Municipality. It documents the sanitary conditions and hygiene practices of four public primary schools, identifies the behavioural and material targets that a TfD project must address, and considers what the findings imply for the design of participatory theatre in school settings. The baseline draws on cross-sectional field data collected between April and July 2022 from four randomly selected public primary schools. Structured observation documented toilet facilities, water supply, handwashing stations, and refuse disposal. Interviewer-administered questionnaires captured self-reported hygiene practices from 463 pupils aged 5 to 14. Stool samples were analysed to determine soil-transmitted helminth (STH) prevalence as a biological indicator of sanitation effectiveness. All four schools had water cistern toilets, but three lacked regular water supply and had non-functional or inadequate facilities. No school provided soap at handwashing stations. Visible refuse was present on all compounds. Thirty per cent of pupils reported open defecation at school, and 28.3% reported not washing hands after play. STH prevalence was 21.2%, dominated by Ascaris lumbricoides (11.9%) and hookworm (7.6%). The findings establish the evidentiary basis for a TfD intervention that targets specific behaviours and material deficits rather than generic hygiene messages. The paper argues that participatory theatre on school WASH must be sequenced with attention to the consumables and infrastructure that make hygiene possible, and it contributes a Nigerian school-based case to debates about the scope and limits of TfD as a health advocacy method.]]>
