The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council Community of Practice on Sanitation and Hygiene in Developing Countries (WSSCC CoP) and the global Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) came together in 2015 to hold a joint three-week thematic discussion on sanitation and hygiene behaviour change programming and sustainability.
This thematic discussion was an opportunity to bring together these two global communities, with over 5,000 members in total, to share learning and to explore links between research and practice on behaviour change.
The discussion was divided into three inter-linked sub-themes to further explore how behaviour change can be better understood and improved to ensure health and WASH outcomes are sustained. The three sub-themes included:
- ‘Programming for scale’ focused on defining scale for sanitation and hygiene behaviour change (BC) programming, sharing examples of successful scale-up (or the ingredients thereof) and understanding stakeholder’s responsibilities and relationships.
- ‘Sustainability for BC’ sought to explore the social and behavioural norms and dynamics that influence hygiene practices specifically, hand-washing and the use of sanitation facilities.
- ‘Open defecation-free status and slippage’ focused on understanding terminology, exploring patterns of slippage and local strategies for preventing or mitigating slippage.
- Organizations:Â Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council Community of Practice on Sanitation and Hygiene in Developing Countries (WSSCC CoP) and the global Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA)