Advocacy for Water, Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene

Dick de Jong (IRC) (2003)

IRC's Thematic Overview Papers (TOPs) aim to give their readers two kinds of help:

• Easy access to the main principles of the topic - in this case Advocacy for Water, Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene - based on worldwide experiences and views of leading practitioners
• Direct links to more detailed explanations and documented experiences of critical aspects of the topic on the world wide web

Target audience

The audience for Advocacy for Water, Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene TOP consists of policy makers, practitioners, educators, trainers and researchers in the fields of water, sanitation, hygieneand health, but also those involved in broader programmes for the alleviation of rural or urban poverty.

This TOP may therefore meet different aims of different users: an introduction to, and a rationale for, Advocacy for Water, Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene; access to recent research and case studies for researchers, educators and trainers; information on approaches and experiences of colleagues for practitioners; and opportunities to give your feedback or add your contributions.

Focus on WASH campaign

In this Thematic Overview paper we focus on the issue: water, sanitation and hygiene for all. We link this to existing campaigns, of which the most important one is the WASH - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for all - campaign of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). This campaign was launched at the Bonn Freshwater Conference in December 2001. It emerged from the earlier efforts on public information and promotion for water and sanitation in the 1980s, followed by the work of an international working group on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) of the WSSCC. This group from 1991 - 1997 developed and tested various advocacy and communication tools.

Bangladesh

The links between advocacy, social mobilisation and communication are explained with an example from an eight-year sanitation programme in Bangladesh. In Why this theme matters the key messages and the process of the WASH campaign are being described.

Integrated Marketing Communication

Global public information and promotion and IEC efforts in the 1980s and 1990s and the problems associated with them provide valuable lessons for future advocacy work. A more recent approach is Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) for behavioural impact in health and social development builds on lessons from commercial marketing. To achieve a specific behavioural result for a specific target group a carefully designed strategic, integrated marketing communication plan is essential.

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