IRC's podcast series WASH Talk shares ideas on changes the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector has to make in order to contribute to achieving universal access by 2030. To do so speakers from all over the world are given a voice in this podcast series. Find out more on www.ircwash.org/washtalk . These are the shownotes of the podcast on hygiene and handwashing with speakers Carolyn Moore (Global Handwashing Partnership), Thinley Dem (SNV Bhutan) and Adam Biran (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). They talk about the issues around hygiene and approaches to improving handwashing behaviour. Still a lot needs to be done to meet SDG 6.2 related to handwashing.

1. Supporting water sanitation
and hygiene services for life
December 2018
WASH Talk Podcast
Episode 21: Hygiene
Promotion
with Carolyn Moore, Thinley
Dem, and Adam Biran

2. Introduction
− Hygiene has long-established links with public health, but was not included
in any MDG targets or indicators. The explicit reference to hygiene in the
text of SDG target 6.2 represents increasing recognition of the importance
of hygiene and its close links with sanitation.
− In this episode, we talk with Carolyn Moore, Thinley Dem, and Adam Biran
about hygiene promotion approaches, and particularly handwashing and
behaviour change, using the Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All
programme in Bhutan as experience to draw on.
− Carolyn Moore is the Secretariat Director with the Global Handwashing
Partnership.
− Thinley Dem is the behaviour change communications advisor with the SNV
WASH team in Bhutan.
− Adam Biran is lecturer in the Environmental Health Group at the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
WASH TALK PODCAST EPISODE 21: HYGIENE PROMOTION

3. Why is handwashing mentioned in the SDGs?
− Particularly for preventing common diseases such as diarrhoea and
pneumonia which are the biggest mortality causes among young children.
− It has also been shown to have some surprising benefits, such as keeping
children in school and economic growth.
− The Global Handwashing Partnership advocated for including handwashing
with soap in the SDGs because (a) hygiene is such a crucial piece of the
puzzle that is going to make WASH have the impacts we want to see, and
(b) it’s a behaviour that requires huge effort and investment to embed, so
inclusion in the SDGs will hopefully raise its prominence.
− The Global Handwashing Partnership is a combined effort of non-profits,
companies, academia, governments – and gives a wide range of
perspectives. Their strategy includes efforts in advocacy and knowledge
management.
WASH TALK PODCAST EPISODE 21: HYGIENE PROMOTION

4. What can we learn from the Sustainable Sanitation
and Hygiene for All (SSH4A) project in Bhutan?
− The project has four components: (a) sanitation demand creation, (b)
supply chain development, (c) behaviour change communications, and
(d) governance and social inclusion.
− Handwashing with soap lies under the behaviour change component.
This has included formative studies to understand behaviours and
barriers.
− Some of the barriers they found was that soap was present in the
houses while the water tap was outside the house. So the soap wasn’t
present when the user needed the soap. Knowledge was also found to
be a barrier. Therefore knowledge was shared at critical junctures,
including the demand creation workshop.
− Along with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, they
also used the SuperAmma approach to design a behaviour change
intervention in Bhutan.
WASH TALK PODCAST EPISODE 21: HYGIENE PROMOTION

5. What is the SuperAmma approach?
− There is a difference between the approach and the intervention. The
approach is called “behaviour centred design” (BCD) and the
intervention is SuperAmma.
− BCD is underpinned by the Evo-Eco Approach, which guides formative
research, that emphasises observed behaviour in settings.
− SuperAmma combines community meetings with video, animated films,
meetings with village leaders, and more.
− It’s effectiveness lies in the Evo-Eco Approach to designing the
intervention, the intensity with which it was implemented, and where
there was good availability of soap and water.
− One weakness in the approach is the intensity required to change
behaviour, which isn’t always possible at large scale. But it is possible
to inject SuperAmma principles into larger programmes.
WASH TALK PODCAST EPISODE 21: HYGIENE PROMOTION

6. Are we on track to meet SDG 6.2 related to
handwashing?
− The 2018 synthesis showed 27% of households in least developed
countries (in 2015) had access to a handwashing station.
− All over the world, the behaviour is not being practised enough to
deliver the desired outcomes.
− More needs to be done to see how the best approaches, like the
Evo-Eco Approach, can be adapted to different settings at different
levels of intensity.
WASH TALK PODCAST EPISODE 21: HYGIENE PROMOTION

7. Your next steps…
− Review these resources:
− Visit the SuperAmma website to apply the approach in their own
context: superamma.org
− Visit the Sustainable Sanitation & Hygiene for All pages on the
IRC website: https://www.ircwash.org/projects/ssh4a
− Visit the Global Handwashing Partnership website:
https://globalhandwashing.org/
− Listen at https://www.ircwash.org/washtalk or on Soundcloud.com
− Add to the discussion by using the hashtag #WASHtalk on Twitter, or
in the comments on Facebook
WASH TALK PODCAST EPISODE 21: HYGIENE PROMOTION

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Postal address
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2508 EH The Hague
The Netherlands
T +31 70 3044000
info@ircwash.org
www.ircwash.org
Supporting water sanitation
and hygiene services for life