Key Concepts

• For the affected population to practise satisfactory hygiene behaviours, adequate WASH facilities (including water supply, sanitation and handwashing infrastructure and hygiene items) must be available in sufficient quantities. They must also be accessible, affordable, inclusive, well-maintained, culturally appropriate and close to where the hygiene behaviours are to be performed P.2, P.3, P.4, P.5, P.6.

• Hygiene promotion (HP) considers both the preconditions for change and how change can be enabled and supported. It is not the same as hygiene education which, traditionally, focuses solely on increasing knowledge.

• Promoting hygiene requires collaboration, coordination and teamwork P.9 – both within the WASH sector and between sectors such as health, nutrition, protection, agriculture, food security, livelihoods and education.

• Hygiene promoters must work collaboratively with users, local actors, WASH engineers, technicians, logisticians and other sectors to ensure that WASH infrastructure, services and products meet the different needs of the population, are used and maintained effectively and therefore have an impact on people’s health.

• Hygiene promotion focuses on improved hygiene practices, Social and Behavioural Change (chapter  B ) and Community Engagement (chapter  E ). It works collaboratively with and through representative groups from the targeted community so that they are involved in making decisions about how the programme is delivered such as the design, siting and management of WASH facilities (i.e. Human Centred Design).

• Local, national and international Advocacy P.10 may be required to address the underlying causes of poverty, poor hygiene and ill health (including underlying causes such as vulnerability and poverty).

 

Good Practice

• Work together to achieve the common goal of improved hygiene and public health. WASH staff should collaborate through joint assessments, analysis, design, planning, implementation and sharing information. Regular team meetings, shared office space and joint field visits can also contribute to more effective collaboration.

• Ensure that managers facilitate different specialisms to work coherently together, checking that collaboration is written into job descriptions and organising joint training when required.

• Enable Community Engagement (chapter  E ) in the design of facilities and services and ensure that communication channels (chapter  C ) between WASH officers, project managers, engineers and technicians and the community are open and accessible. Hygiene promoters play a key role but community engagement should be part of the job of all involved WASH staff.

• Recognise the variety of WASH needs amongst different individuals (or groups of individuals) within a community - for example sanitation for babies and young children E.4, menstrual hygiene needs P.7, accessible handwashing facilities for different groups P.2 or adaptations for those with disabilities E.5.

• Consider privacy, dignity and safety issues for all those accessing WASH facilities and services. For example, location and distance, locks on toilet doors, adequate lighting, privacy screens and the segregation of facilities can help reduce the risk of abuse and violence.

• Consider communities (even new ones formed through displacement) in their entirety to ensure a more holistic response to an emergency, recognising how sectors overlap and depend on each other. For example, market systems must be adequately assessed and supported where feasible P.8 and staff must know how to address protection concerns T.35 and be accountable to the affected population (M.4 and F.23).

• Be proactive in sharing information and attend regular coordination meetings with others working in WASH (and related sectors). Involve government and local authorities and enable them to manage the response where possible; ensure that external actors play only a supporting role P.9.

• Coordinate with other sectors - especially those which significantly overlap with HP P.9. Examples include recruiting and managing community volunteers (e.g. menstrual health is often paired with sexual and reproductive health in the health sector) and addressing protection concerns by referring to specialised teams or agencies.

• Consider from the outset how to make WASH interventions as sustainable as possible so that WASH infrastructure and services will continue to be safely managed and support good hygiene practices, even during a protracted crisis or displacement.

• Adhere to agreed policies, guidelines, codes of conduct and standards, e.g. Sphere (using the WASH Technical Standards together with the Protection Principles and Core Humanitarian Standard, not in isolation).

• Consider and anticipate how the WASH programme may lead to negative consequences for the community, e.g. how will the programme influence power dynamics? What will happen after your intervention? Are you going to ‘step on toes’?

• Ensure that all agencies involved in HP practise what they teach, reflected in clean and safe WASH facilities and services at their premises and exemplary staff hygiene practices.