The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the BRAC WASH Program’s initiative of building public handwashing stations (HWSs) at the community level, coupled with other supports i.e. in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution in Bangladesh, by exploring to what extent HWSs and behaviour change interventions impact the overall hygiene behaviours and health outcomes. The quantitative study aims to collect information using three instruments- 1) household survey, 2) public survey and 3) observation.
Researchers: Khandker Wahedur Rahman; Dr Stewart Kettle; Dr Narayan Das; Atiya Rahman; Dr Dan Brown; Alexander Clark; Dilhan Perera; Rafia Nisat; Sonia Afrin
Partners: BRAC; The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT)
Timeline: 2020-2021
Status: Ongoing
Contact: Atiya Rahman
atiya.rahman@bracu.ac.bd
Context
It is well-established by now that certain behavioural changes, including frequent and proper handwashing, are crucial for limiting the spread of the virus. However, many studies in the past have reflected the dire condition of handwashing and the use of soap in Bangladesh. There are gaps in handwashing facilities, especially in rural and low-income urban areas. Also, the adoption of handwashing behaviour has remained a major obstacle.
The overall aim of BRAC’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program is to encourage people to adopt healthier hygiene practices and to make crucial contributions to Goal 3 (Good health and wellbeing) and Goal 6 (Clean water and sanitation) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To fill this gap during the pandemic, as a part of the global Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition (HBCC), WASH program, with support from BRAC Communication and Social Innovation Lab, has built public handwashing stations (HWSs) at the community level, coupled with other supports i.e., in-person demonstration, hygiene meetings, and soap distribution in Bangladesh.
Objective
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention by exploring to what extent HWSs change people’s hygiene behaviours in public places, how much behaviour change interventions (i.e. hand washing stations in the public domain, in-person demonstration at the community level) impact the overall hygiene behaviours and health outcomes, and understand whether additional behaviour change interventions at public handwashing stations can increase the use of the stations.
Methodology
BRAC implemented the HBCC intervention across 20 sub-districts in Dhaka, Khulna, and Mymensingh divisions of Bangladesh.
To answer the question—to what extent the HWSs change people’s hygiene behaviours in public places—we randomly selected 10 villages from each subdistrict, of which five villages received the HBCC interventions, in the form of new public handwashing stations and related community demonstrations/ communications (treatment group), and the rest of the villages did not receive any interventions (control group). We finally selected 96 villages (from 20 sub-districts) in the treatment and 98 in the control group, altogether 194 villages.
To understand whether additional behavioural nudges increase the usage of the stations, we randomly assigned the remaining villages where HBCC interventions are delivered (approximately 700) to one of three groups: one receiving standard HBCC interventions; the second receiving the standard interventions plus a package of ‘low-intensity’ behavioural nudges (mirrors and signposts leading to the station); the third receiving the standard interventions plus a package of ‘high-intensity’ interventions (a community board regularly updated to reflect the use of the stations, and the periodic provision of free soaps to people who use the station as an incentive). From each group, 33 villages were randomly selected for the study, altogether 100 villages.
This study will collect information using three instruments- 1) household survey, 2) public survey and 3) observation
Findings and Recommendations
Study ongoing
