MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (ILO News) - The class has started but half of the students are not there. Outside, in the garden of the Timanan Central Elementary School in Maguindanao, children aged 5-12 form a long queue leading up to a lone standpipe. Each are carrying a plastic container or a watering can. The path is muddy and slippery from water that spills from buckets that are too heavy for the children to carry.

This the only source of water that they have to wash their hands and flush the toilet.