During the COVID-19 pandemic, when access to hygiene products and services was the prime solution to fighting against it, BRAC stepped up to not only establish handwashing stations across the country but also to disseminate the hygiene behaviour change messages and generate evidence on what works best for sustainable change. As part of the FCDO-Unilever Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition (HBCC), BRAC in partnership with the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) and Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), undertook the initiative to establish 1000 handwashing stations across 20 sub-districts in Bangladesh to systematically change the key hygiene behaviour of over 10 million people. An implementation and process evaluation (IPE) of 35 ‘pilot’ public HWSs took place from 20 July 2020 to 27 August 2020, to inform the design of the remaining HWSs to be built. To conduct the evaluation we collected and analysed data from multiple sources, including – over 200 short phone surveys with people living around the stations; over 600 hours of structured observations of how people use the stations; and peer research consisting of 25 in-depth interviews and eight focus group discussions carried out by people recruited from the villages where HWS were built. The study found that almost all users of the stations washed their hands with soap, and 75% washed their hands for at least 11 seconds. The evaluation also found a few barriers, for example, specific positioning of some HWSs limited visibility and accessibility. Moreover, our peer research identified additional barriers for women. Although women were interested in the HWSs, some felt shy and uncomfortable washing their hands in open places, especially in front of unknown men. Cultural norms play a role to induce barriers.
Authors: Clark, Alexander; Ahmed, Arshae; Rahman, Atiya; Siddiqua, Shafqat Aurin
Type: Case Study
Year: 2021
