Foreword
Water supply and sanitation programmes depend critically for their success on an effective IEC (Information, Education, Communication) component. The experience of the past decade clearly demonstrates that even the best-designed programmes failed, or produced meagre results, because decision makers and intended beneficiaries were not adequately consulted, informed, educated or mobilised.
However, the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade has also shown that isolated experiments and experiences can indeed have positive results "if political will is charged with ideas that people can grasp as their own. If the common thread is that behaviours must change, then the most critical element in planning for safe water is that of communication." (UNICEF, 1990).
This booklet is designed to support people who are convinced of the need for change in the water sector and who want to know how to put a communication programme into effect, in and for the sector. It cannot be prescriptive or fulfil the role of a manual, as there is considerable variation from country to country in the way the necessary steps should be introduced. What it can do is offer guidance based on the experiences of many people in many countries, and outline the steps that need to be taken to develop and implement a communication strategy. Such a strategy should be designed to support the sector goal of supplying everyone in each country in the years to come with sustainable basic water supply and sanitation.
Included as an appendix is a collection of short advocacy pieces which address some of the key questions raised in and by the booklet and which can be referred to or used as a short summary. Together, these pieces set out to make the case for the creation of a communication culture in the Water and Sanitation Sector.
The booklet has been produced collectively by members from the Working Group on IEC and consultants, and issued by the IRC under the aegis of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council. The Working Group was established through the Council, a new global forum composed of sector professionals from developing countries, external support agencies, and other institutions active in water supply and sanitation.
This is a new version of the original booklet published as a draft in 1991/92. The earlier version is largely incorporated in this one, although certain chapters have been restructured, and new ideas on IEC in the sector are included. We have updated the section on basic elements for messages for various target groups. Other Working Group documents, the outline for strategies and some of the communication case studies, are incorporated.
The booklet includes suggestions for advocacy at national and global level, and basic elements for messages on water supply and sanitation to priority target groups. The steps and basic components which have proved to be essential in communication programming for rural development are described in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 provides characteristics and some examples of how different sections of society can be mobilised to contribute to the grand alliance that needs to be forged for Water Supply and Sanitation. A new introduction to alliances and the advantages and potential drawbacks of various allies has been added.
Reactions to the draft indicate that this new booklet has the potential to become the resource booklet for water supply and sanitation communication. Comments on this edition are invited so that the sector reaction and experience can be incorporated into future editions. Please send comments and reports about the use of this booklet, as well as experience with existing and new communication initiatives in the water sector to: Chairman of the Working Group on IEC
C/O IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre
PO Box 2869
2601 CW Delft
The Netherlands
In preparation for this booklet, the Working Group on IEC consulted a wealth of literature on communication in development programmes. The following publications deserve special mention:
- Facts for Life: a communication challenge
- All for Health: a resource booklet for Facts for Life
- Communicating for Health: Agent for Change
- Communicating for rural development to improve planning, participation and training
Communication in Water Supply and Sanitation: resource booklet
resbook.pdf (686.4 kB)
Overview
- Contents
- Foreword
- Why Communication?
- Who are the Communicators?
- What is Communication?
- Basic Elements for Messages
- Target Audiences
- Preparing the Sector and Building its Capacity
- Basic Steps for Preparation and Implementation
- Advocacy at Global Level
- Alliances and Country Examples
- Appendix: Advocacy Papers
- References
- The sector role in a network of communication
- Organising for change in Guinea Bissau
- Safe latrines in Bangladesh
- Eradication of Guinea-worm disease
