English
SWIFT partner BBC Media Action worked to achieve sustainable hygiene behaviour change
They partnered with local radio stations and supported them to produce engaging and locally relevant public health broadcasts.
Having conducted formative research across the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) counties and Nairobi’s informal settlements, BBC Media Action analysed the WASH information needs, levels of knowledge and existing attitudes and barriers to the adoption of improved hygiene behaviours among the target audiences.
BBC Media Action ‘mentors’ then worked with seven partner radio stations to build their capacity to incorporate WASH content in their programming; for example, by holding a production workshop at which they received training in producing WASH Public Service Announcements (PSAs). The radio stations incorporate WASH content in their programming in the form of interviews, discussions, vox pops and news stories.
In Wajir, SWIFT partner Oxfam trained Community Health Volunteers to promote improved hygiene behaviours such as hand-washing.
It also supported School Health Clubs, and trained teachers in the ‘child-to-child’ approach, which facilitated children’s understanding of healthy behaviour and allows them to identify health priorities in a fun, challenging and interesting way.
Oxfam installed solar pumping systems at boreholes, and worked with the Wajir County Government and Wajir Water and Sewerage Company (WAJWASCO) to improve access to clean water for remote rural communities. The Oxfam team worked with WAJWASCO to strengthen its capacity and support it to have management oversight of the village water user associations that have been set up. As part of this, electronic water dispensers (or water ‘ATMs’) have been installed in some villages to make it easier for people to access water and ensure payment reaches the water utility company.
In Marsabit, SWIFT partner Concern Worldwide implemented water, sanitation and hygiene activities.
These include Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), a process of mobilising communities to completely eliminate open defecation. The CLTS approach focuses on triggering a community’s desire for collective change, and providing support for it to build its own latrines.
Concern also trained community facilitators and partner staff in hygiene promotion activities, and provided information, education and communication materials to trigger debate around health and hygiene messages. And finally, Concern improved the water infrastructure, by rehabilitating boreholes and installing hand-pumps and solar pumping systems.
In Turkana, SWIFT partners Oxfam and Practical Action improved the water infrastructure and increased access to safe water for remote rural communities.
Work included drilling and rehabilitating boreholes; laying pipelines; constructing water kiosks; installing tanks and solar pumping systems; constructing and rehabilitating shallow wells; and equipping boreholes with low-maintenance BluePumps. SWIFT has also worked to build capacity at the Lodwar Water and Sewerage Company (LOWASCO), and the water-service provider in Kakuma, KAWASEPRO.
Both Oxfam and Practical Action also implemented Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), including providing support for the construction of household latrines. In addition, Oxfam and Practical Action worked in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation in Turkana to promote good hygiene behaviours. They trained Community Health Volunteers to conduct home visits to promote behaviours such as hand-washing; supported School Health Clubs; and trained teachers in the ‘child-to-child’ approach, which facilitates children’s understanding of healthy behaviour and allows them to identify health priorities in a fun, challenging and interesting way.
SWIFT implemented a range of activities in Nairobi’s informal settlements.
Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) worked in Dandora, where it laid a new 23.5km pipeline and reached 52,000 people in the informal settlement with clean, reliable water. WSUP partnered with the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) to legalise illegal connections to the water network and ensure its improvements are sustainable. The partners jointly embarked on a mass promotion with the aim of connecting 3,000 new and reactivated water meters to the existing network.
An NCWSC site office was opened that also serves as a customer care and complaints centre on water issues for residents. A team of local promoters carried out the plot-to-plot distribution of application forms for water connections to landlords. And WSUP’s and NCWSC’s field sociologists worked closely with the community project task team, landlords and residents to understand potential customer groups, their attitudes, practices, perceptions and preferences, and their willingness to pay for an improved service.
Another SWIFT partner, Sanergy, installed Fresh Life Toilets in the informal settlement of Mukuru. These pre-fabricated toilets are made of high-quality materials that are easy to keep clean and maintain; have a small footprint that enables them to be installed close to homes; and include essential features such as hand-washing facilities. Sanergy also installed Fresh Life Toilets in schools in Mukuru, and provided WASH training for teachers and ‘edutainment’ days for pupils in collaboration with WASH United.
Despite the particularly fragile context in some areas, the SWIFT programme was able to meet or exceed expected results.
Beneficiaries reached:
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Hygiene
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