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Can behaviour change approaches improve the cleanliness and functionality of shared toilets? A randomised control trial in Dhaka, Bangladesh (WSUP Discussion Paper 2016)

Households living in densely populated urban slums often lack the space for their own toilet, making shared sanitation the only viable solution. This is the situation in Dhaka, where many of the city’s low-income residents depend on one of the city’s enormous number of shared compound toilets: a recent study by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh (icddr,b) estimated that 4.3 million people in Dhaka use such facilities. While shared compound toilets can play a central role in urban sanitation provision, it is notoriously difficult to keep these facilities clean and well-maintained, leading to an unhygienic and unpleasant user experience and often to under-use or eventual abandonment.

As part of its 2012 – 2015 DFID-funded research programme, WSUP commissioned a research project in Dhaka to explore behaviour change strategies to help users keep their toilets clean and functional. The study aimed to design, pilot and rollout low-cost behaviour change messaging approaches and associated simple hardware provision. The research team used a randomised control trial (RCT) design to evaluate the impact of the intervention on toilet cleanliness and other metrics. The results indicate that this type of behaviour change approach can be strongly beneficial to shared toilet cleanliness and functionality.

This Discussion Paper presents the context, methodology, results and conclusions of the study. The paper is derived from the final report of researchers from icddr,b, Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Click here for full details.

Nudging and habit change for open defecation : new tactics from behavioral science (WSP/World Bank Working Paper 2016)

Open defecation (OD) remains a critical global health challenge, afecting almost 1 billion people around the world and contributing signifcantly to the estimated 842,000 people who die each year because of poor sanitation, hygiene practices, and unsafe water supplies (WHO, 2014).

To date, most behavior change frameworks for addressing OD have focused on relatively conscious, “reflective” drivers of behavior, including people’s emotions (e.g., pride, shame), rational knowledge (e.g., of germ theory), social norms, and explicit action plans (e.g., commitments to change; see Sigler, 2014).

Using the framework popularized by Kahneman (2011), these factors can be described as “System 2” drivers of behavior (i.e., relatively conscious and motivational factors). It is now well established, however, that human behavior can also be heavily influenced by “System 1” drivers (i.e. relatively automatic, cue-driven drivers; Marteau et al., 2012; Wood & Neal, 2015). System 1 factors of particular relevance to OD include people’s hygiene habits (e.g., mindlessly repeated behaviors cued by context) and “nudges” (i.e., small changes to the environment that can channel decision making and behavior in new ways, Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). This working paper draws on basic scientific findings from psychology, cognitive science, and behavioral economics to propose a framework of 8 System 1 Principles to support the initiation and maintenance of OD behavior change.

Click here for full paper.

 

MajiVoice: A New Accountability Tool to Improve Public Services (Water and Sanitation Program policy note 2015)

MajiVoice is an innovative accountability mechanism that is transforming service delivery in the Kenyan water and sanitation sector. Linking citizens, water service providers (WSPs) and the sector regulator, the new MajiVoice software platform provides specific tools and incentives to strengthen the focus on customer needs and improve service standards. In its first year, the system has achieved concrete results: At Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Ltd (NCWSC), Kenya’s largest water utility and the first to adopt MajiVoice, the number of complaints recorded rose almost tenfold, resolution rates climbed from 46% to 94% and time to resolution halved.

Under the guidance of the Water Services Regulatory Board of Kenya (WASREB), the regulator responsible for sector rules and their enforcement, the system has since been extended to WSPs in Nakuru, Nanyuki and Mathira. MajiVoice was developed in partnership between the World Bank’s Water Global Practice, WASREB and participating WSPs. The Water Global Practice supports client countries in improving access to safe water and sanitation services, especially among the poor. To achieve this aim, lending operations such as the Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP) and the Water and Sanitation Services Improvement Project (WASSIP) are combined with innovative technical assistance such as MajiVoice. This knowledge note describes how MajiVoice succeeded in improving accountability in the Kenyan water sector and outlines the building blocks to achieve similar impact in other countries and sectors.

(Taken from Policy Note introduction)

Global Hand Washing Day Social Media Toolkit (The Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing 2015)

Updated for 2015, this social media toolkit has sample messages, blog ideas, and resources to help celebrants and handwashing champions spread the word about the annual Global Handwashing Day (15 October).

Communicating with children: using an integrated approach [hand-washing in Indonesia] (UNICEF 2011)

In their 2011 publication, ‘Communicating with children’, UNICEF consider how children process and experience learning, using the example of their ‘Let’s Wash Hands’ poster.

“The poster “Let’s Wash Hands” was developed for school-aged children during a capacity-building workshop on holistic child development in Indonesia.The group chose a girl to be the model for a photo-based poster; broke down steps for a correct hand-washing sequence (wet, soap, scrub well, rinse); used a catchy rhyme with each photo; and finished with the girl proudly holding out her clean hands. Supplementary activities included adapting the rhyme to a song to be sung at school or at home when washing hands.The poster integrated hygiene, early learning through rhyme and building self-confidence, especially of girls. It can be used as a model to teach a variety of skills to children as well as adults.”

For more details visit: http://www2.unicef.org:60090/cwc/cwc_58608.html

 

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