Behavior Change

Blog

Citizen Journalists: Shining a Light on Water Management in Armenia

Mane Minasyan lives in Vedi, a small town in the heart of the Ararat Valley in the west of Armenia. At 19, she is raising awareness of groundwater depletion and prompting behavior change in her community. Mane received her investigative journalism training from USAID’s Participatory Utilization and Resources Efficiency of Water (PURE Water) project, which is working to increase water productivity, efficiency, and quality in the Ararat Valley by enhancing citizen participation in water resources management.

Project

Communication for Better Health/Communication for Health Communities

Communication for Healthy Communities (CHC) is a 5-year, USAID funded project whose goal is to support Government of Uganda and partners to design and implement quality health communication interventions that contribute to reduction in HIV Infections, total fertility, maternal & child mortality, malnutrition, malaria & tuberculosis (TB). To achieve this, the project uses innovative health communication (HC) approaches, capacity strengthening, increased collaboration among partners, and rigorous research and knowledge management for health communication.

Summary

Mid-term Evaluation of the Kenya Integrated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (KIWASH) Project: Summary of Findings and Recommendations

The Kenya Integrated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program (KIWASH) is a $51 million 5-year project (October 2015 to September 2020) funded by USAID/Kenya and East Africa (USAID/KEA) and implemented by a consortium led by DAI. The goal of KIWASH is to improve lives and health through development and management of sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in Kenya.

Water Currents

Water Currents: Menstrual Hygiene Day 2019

Every May 28, Menstrual Hygiene Day (MH Day) raises awareness and combats taboos associated with menstrual hygiene with the goal of enabling women and girls to achieve their full potential. The theme of Menstrual Hygiene Day 2019—It's Time for Action—not only emphasizes the urgency of this public health issue, but also highlights the transformative power of improved menstrual hygiene to unlock economic and educational opportunities for women and girls.
 

Summary

Cambodia Integrated Nutrition, Hygiene, and Sanitation Project (NOURISH) Impact Evaluation

Despite strong economic growth and rising living standards in the last two decades, high levels of undernutrition persist in Cambodia. Tackling childhood undernutrition requires a broad range of ‘nutrition specific’ and ‘nutrition sensitive’ interventions that act to ensure adequate dietary intake and address the multiple underlying or enabling determinants. However, when rigorously evaluated, interventions to improve dietary intake alone have not been successful in reducing stunting.

Summary

Study of Targeted Subsidies Within ODF Communities in Ghana

Globally, CLTS has been widely embraced as a strategy to end open defecation, and dozens of countries have incorporated the approach as part of national policy for rural sanitation. Though the “total sanitation” focus of CLTS is laudable, there is reason to believe that the poor and more vulnerable segments of the community do not benefit equally, as they are more likely to construct lower-quality toilets and revert to open defecation.

Webinar Slides

The Contribution of Community-Led Total Sanitation To Ending Open Defecation

On Wednesday, December 13, 2017, the USAID-funded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) Project held a webinar on the role of community-led total sanitation (CLTS) in helping to end open defecation. WASHPaLS presented key findings from a desk review assessing the knowledge base on CLTS program performance. The findings and identified evidence gaps will inform the WASHPaLS research agenda for subsequent years of the project.