SHARE RIU Final Report | 1

SHARE RIU final report

The SHARE supported Research in Use (RIU) project of WaterAid Bangladesh has

been rolled out aiming to contribute mainly under four heads; they are –

A. Dissemination of SHARE results (Roundtable/ Stakeholders’ workshop)

B. Research briefs, IEC promotional, publication

C. Media Campaign (RDC/TVC/Documentary/Talk show/Creative)

D. Training/ Capacity Building

The activities undertaken under these line items as well as their output and impact are

portrayed herein chronologically.

A. Dissemination of SHARE results (Roundtable/ Stakeholders’ workshop)

Under this output a number of activities done that include roundtable with sector actors;

dissemination and dialogue; conferences; and mass media communications through

popular channels. The details are as follows under six sub-heads:

A1. Roundtable on bridging health and WASH

Health experts stressed the importance of hygiene to improve health and called for

better handwashing campaigns at a meeting co-organised by SHARE in Dhaka,

Bangladesh. Leading figures from research institutes, NGOs, the private sector and

media met on 1 October at the offices of the Daily Sun - an English-language

newspaper in Bangladesh - to discuss how to improve hygiene practices.

They urged all concerned, including the Govt. of Bangladesh and the private sector, to

work together to support long-term and sustainable hygiene promotion efforts.

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The roundtable on health and hygiene was co-organised by SHARE, its partners

ICDDR,B, LSHTM and WaterAid, and the Daily Sun. It was a timely discussion as

Global Handwashing Day takes place on 15 October and the Government of

Bangladesh has designated October as the month for sanitation.

During the three-hour session, health experts identified key challenges limiting good

handwashing practices in Bangladesh. Poor infrastructure, especially lack of running

water and wash basins, including in certain hospitals and schools, was described as a

major weakness contributing to the spread of diseases, such as diarrhoea. Inadequate

hygiene education at all levels – from villages to medical schools – was also mentioned

as a constraint. The lack of robust data and need for more research on how to scale up

hygiene initiatives was raised too. Dr Md Khairul Islam, Country Representative for

WaterAid Bangladesh, explained that the current situation resembles a “vicious circle.”

As the health impact of hygiene promotion is not measured, it is not considered to be

important, leading to a lack of investment, which means its significance will not get

measured; this cycle then repeats itself.

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The delegates also shared examples of successful programmes, and the widespread

benefits of good hygiene. Children in hundreds of schools across Dhaka are being

educated about handwashing with soap due to a partnership between Lifebuoy - a

Unilever brand of soap - and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP). Dr

Selina Ahmed, of DFID Bangladesh, explained that good hygiene can also lead to

gains in nutrition and avoid eye infection.

The experts made many suggestions to improve handwashing practices, including

better education, especially for children, mothers and Bangladesh’s 40,000 frontline

health workers. The government was repeatedly urged to play a larger role as without

its support improvements cannot be made on a large scale and long-term basis.

Similarly, the private sector was urged to pursue long-term and sustainable projects.

The support of the media to raise awareness about the importance of hygiene was also

invoked. Professor Dr Syed Anwar Husain and Shahnoor Wahid, Editor and Joint

Editor of the Daily Sun respectively, confirmed their newspaper's interest and

commitment to publicising these issues (click here for the Daily Sun's coverage of the

roundtable).

Professor Dr Mahmudur Rahman, of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and

Research (IEDCR), reflected the consensus at the meeting when he said: “Health and

hygiene go hand in hand.” Likewise, Dr Ainun Afroje, of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib

Medical University (BSMMU), summed up the views of all when she added: “We all

know that prevention is better than cure, but sometimes we forget to prevent.”

A2. Roundtable on bridging WASH and nutrition

Dhaka University, WaterAid and New Age organised a roundtable on ‘Bridging WaSH

(Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and Nutrition’ at the Bangladesh Institute of

International and Strategic Studies in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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A two page supplement featuring leading nutrition and WaSH sector actors of

Bangladesh has been published in the national daily New Age that sheds light on the

possibility of bridging 'WaSH and Nutrition' in Bangladesh.

The speakers told that about six million of the country's 15 million children below five

are undersized and intellectually underdeveloped due to severe malnutrition. Nearly

40% of these under-fives are stunted, a physical state that is the worst manifestation of

child malnutrition caused by lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene, said Tahmeed

Ahmed, Director of Centre for Nutrition and Food Security at ICDDR,B.

Tahmeed, who also teaches public health nutrition at Brac University, said these

malnourished children would not only be physically weak but also suffer from poor

intellectual growth. He mentioned that they had observed a slum girl for about two and

a half years and found that during the period the child caught diarrhoea and fever 45

times due to lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene. WaSH and child nutrition are

hence indispensable, he noted.

According to Tahmeed, poverty, high density of population, food insecurity, poor

sanitation and hygiene and environmental pollution someway or other cause

malnutrition. He also said during a survey, they had found that due to lack of WaSH

40% of homemade supplementary foods for babies get contaminated with E. coli, a

germ found in faeces.

Stunted parents would give birth to stunted children putting an overall impact on the

nation, said Zeba Mahmud, Director of Brac Institute of Global Health.

Dr. Md. Khairul Islam, Country Representative of WaterAid Bangladesh, said the WaSH

programmes must be coordinated to achieve the nutrition goal and that assessment on

WaSH should be included in the mainstream health programmes. He said successes in

achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are shown with improved

sources of drinking water and a number of sanitary latrines, but the actual success

would remain far away unless safe water, proper sanitation and hygiene are ensured at

all levels.

Shamim Ahmed, a Programme Manager of WaterAid underscored programme

implementation, policy reform and drawing the attention of donor community by

evidence based research to address the issue of malnutrition.

CSA for SUN spokesperson Rukhsana Haider, said nutrition must be a development

indicator. The struggle for a better future must go on although there are many

frustrating realities.

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A3. Global Conference on Community Health

WaterAid Bangladesh in association with Partners for World Health and Eminence

organised a Global Conference on Community Health in Bangladesh from 19-22 March

2014. The purpose of the conference was to share knowledge and contemporary

experiences with sector actors to achieve the sustaining changes for better health at

community level. The audience in the conference was from both home and abroad.

WaterAid Bangladesh took this opportunity to explore the WASH issues convergence

with health agenda as part of policy advocacy process. Considering the importance of

sustainable community health initiatives for global development discourse, the key

theme of the conference was “Sustaining Change in Community Health”. WaterAid

Bangladesh hosted a particular session titled ‘Water, Sanitation and Hygiene’ under the

broader theme of ‘Proximal determinants of health’.

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A4. Dissemination and Dialogue on National Hygiene Baseline Survey

The first ever baseline survey on hygiene in Bangladesh conducted by Policy Support

Unit (PSU) of Local Government Division (LGD) in association with WaterAid and

icddr,b found menstrual hygiene management situation ‘alarming’ and handwashing

practice with soap and water ‘very poor’.

The study has also found only 40 percent households have the facilities of

handwashing with soap and water after toilet, although most of the inhabitants have

claimed they are aware about health manners.

The preliminary report of the National Hygiene Baseline Survey can be downloaded

from PSU website logging on to http://www.psu-wss.org/bnhbs.html where people can

put their comments and suggestions on the findings as well.

Menstrual Hygiene Management situation in Bangladesh is alarming, as 80 per cent

girls of the country are habituated with old pieces of cloth during their menstrual period,

according to a combined study on national hygiene.

In the preliminary report released on 26 June in city’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel has found

only toilet against 187 students while there is no separate toilet for doctors and nurses

in one fourth cases. LGD Secretary K M Mozammel Huq unveiled the report as chief

guest while Director Generals of Directorate of Primary Education, Directorate of Health

Services and Directorate of Family Planning were present as special guest. Deputy

Executive Director of icddr,b Abbas Bhuiya and Country Representative WaterAid

Bangladesh Dr Khairul Islam spoke on the occasion.

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The study report has been prepared by measuring the health manners of school

students in khana levels. In addition, it has also scaled up the rate of the health

manners of doctors, nurses, restaurants and menstruation health of girls in national

level. Researchers claimed the survey conducted in Bangladesh is also for the first time

among the developing countries.

The report said 40 percent girls do not go to school on an average for three days during

their menstrual period and they re-use the old piece of cloth without washing healthy

way as well as dry it properly. In the 40 percent household, it has found that intention of

washing hand is very poor even after having soap and water. Besides, 35 per cent

schools of the households have the facilities of hand wash with soap and water, which

has been reflected in the study.

On the other hand, one third restaurants have kept the provision for its workers to wash

hand with soap. A poor number of restaurants used to cover up the food while half of

the restaurants wash the plate and dish keeping those in the same water repeatedly.

However, in the hospitals, the researchers have found much modern facilities for

washing hand. Nearly 90 percent hospitals have the provision of hand wash system.

But, the researchers during their five hours observation in the hospitals witnessed the

real hand wash with soap in 2 to 29 percent cases. About toilet, the researchers have

found most of those were locked. It witnessed only toilet against 187 students, although

there is supposed to one toilet against 50 students in nationally.

The development activists attended in the ceremony suggested using the result of the

study in both government and non-government activities. They demanded to include

the handwashing with soap as the indicator of skillfulness in health sector. They also

urged both the government and donors to invest on behavioural change campaigns at

national level.

Print media coverage (English)

-----------------------------------------

http://www.dhakatribune.com/safety/2014/jun/27/survey-60-hou…

http://newagebd.net/25146/1-toilet-for-every-187-students-su…

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=419791&date=…

http://www.newstoday.com.bd/index.php?option=details&news_id…

http://thebangladeshtoday.com/national/2014/06/menstruation-…

http://www.newshour.com.bd/2014/06/26/baseline-survey-nation…

http://news.org.bd/news/breaking-news/menstruation-health-ma…

http://www.bangladeshchronicle.net/index.php/2014/06/menstru…

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http://unbconnect.com/hygiene-survey/#&panel1-1

http://bongodaily.com/menstruation-health-management-in-bd-a…

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/06/27/41765

Print media coverage (Bengali)

---------------------------------------

http://www.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/article/252487/

http://www.dailynayadiganta.com/details.php?nayadiganta=NDk1…

http://www.banglanews24.com/beta/fullnews/bn/302423.html

http://www.natunbarta.com/health/2014/06/26/88079

http://www.sangbad.com.bd/index.php?ref=MjBfMDZfMjdfMTRfMV8x…

http://www.risingbd.com/l/detailsnews.php?nssl=a4d0649394c84…

http://arthonitiprotidin.com/2014/06/27/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%9A%E…

http://www.dhakaprotidin.com/?p=46337

http://sylheteralap.com/category/national/5546/

http://www.karatoa.com.bd/details.php?pub_no=1667&menu_id=5&…

http://www.jjdin.com/?view=details&archiev=yes&arch_date=27-…

http://www.sorejominbarta.com/health/article/35208/%E0%A6%A8…

http://www.jugantor.com/second-edition/2014/06/27/116101

http://news.deshiwebportal.com/%E0%A7%A7%E0%A7%AE%E0%A7%AD-%…

http://www.theleadnews.com/home/details/2285

http://news.deshiwebportal.com/%E0%A7%A7%E0%A7%AE%E0%A7%AD-%…

http://www.hawker.com.bd/news_details.php?news_id=360351&new…

http://www.amarhealth.com/bd/archives/24802#.U62NLUDmBkg

Electronic media coverage (TV)

---------------------------------------

Channel I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYpt-CxbJ7s

Ekushey TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGChu2uSFac

Bangla Vision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY8CCrJcM6w

SA TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZVPkEqG0jk

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A5. Roundtable on School Sanitation

WaterAid Bangladesh in

collaboration with

Campaign for Popular

Education (CAMPE), the

Daily Prothom Alo and

SHARE Research

Consortium organised a

roundtable on School

Sanitation.

The discussants shed light

on water, sanitation and

hygiene (WASH) situation

came out from the first

ever Bangladesh National

Hygiene Baseline Survey

2014 and opined on

possible way out.

for e-paper version check

out this link:

http://epaper.prothom-

alo.com/view/dhaka/2014-

12-22/11

find out more coverage

here:

http://www.prothom-

alo.com/bangladesh/article

/397051/

http://bd.thedailystar.net/cit

y/40pc-schoolgirls-cut-classes…

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B. Research briefs, IEC promotional, publication

B1. Printing of Bangladesh National Bangladesh National Hygiene Baseline

Survey (Preliminary Report 2014)

The first ever baseline survey

on hygiene in Bangladesh

conducted by Policy Support

Unit (PSU) of Local

Government Division (LGD) in

association with WaterAid and

icddr,b found menstrual hygiene

management situation

‘alarming’ and handwashing

practice with soap and water

‘very poor’.

The study has also found only

40 percent households have the

facilities of handwashing with

soap and water after toilet,

although most of the inhabitants

have claimed they are aware

about health manners.

The preliminary report of the

National Hygiene Baseline

Survey can be downloaded

from PSU website logging on to

http://www.psu-wss.org/bnhbs.html

The study report has been prepared by measuring the health manners of school

students in khana levels. In addition, it has also scaled up the rate of the health

manners of doctors, nurses, restaurants and menstruation health of girls in national

level. Researchers claimed the survey conducted in Bangladesh is also for the first time

among the developing countries.

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B2. Newspaper Ad on Hygiene Awareness focusing handwashing with soap

To take forward the hygiene issues WaterAid Bangladesh published newspaper spot

ad with hygiene message onto a daily newspaper that are widely circulated amongst

the low and income quartile population.

Bangladesh Protodin found to be the top circulated newspapers and with high

readership of targeted population that also has a very high on-the-street readership.

Newspaper spot ad as it appeared in Bangladesh Protidin

Newspaper spot ad (translated in English)

This newspaper campaign ran for three months with thrice-a-week appearance that

reached over 500,000 readers.

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C. Media Campaign (RDC/TVC/Documentary/Talk show/Creative)

C1. Animated story-based television spot

To disseminate the holistic perception of the key elements of Sanitation and Hygiene

and its possible impact on human life and environment an animated story-based

television spot production was done. The production aimed to create a mass hype on

sanitation and hygiene practices through radio and television airing targeting

preliminarily the school-goers and then the adults.

The production tried to incorporate and contextualise multiple instances of malpractices

from our day to day life shown in the reference 2D animation film in

www.choosesoap.org. It also focused the long term effects of malpractices to sensitise

the target group to disseminate and share their knowledge for the betterment of the

community and society.

The audio-visual production attempted to portray the following within a storyboard:

- all basic elements of Sanitation and Hygiene practices with special focus on regular

Hand Washing practices with soap

- effective impacts on health and nutrition especially of the children

The visual can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/x4mTTzMgg6E

The English lyric is as follows:

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Soap : I’m soap. Use me! Mother: Have you washed your hands with soap? Boy : No, I didn’t.

(Rhyme) If we don’t wash our hands with soap germs Will born and always traverse with us. (Rhyme) After defecation and before eating If we don’t wash our hands with soap, Germs make us feeble. It’s very hazardous If we don’t wash our hands Properly with soap.

Another mother : Have you washed your hands with soap? Another boy : I’ll wash later mom

(Song continues) Germs increase due to our mistakes In daily chores and make us feeble. Make the habit of washing hands with soap And say goodbye to germs and disease.

C2. Newspaper Ad on Hygiene Awareness focusing handwashing with soap

WaterAid Bangladesh’s communications unit planned to disseminate main findings of

serious researches in simple, communicable and digestible language. Side by side, we

decided to put some key messages (doable action points) as a way out of the situations

that the research findings indicate. We planned to adopt product/content marketing

approach of communications for this where the original report will be mentioned as

reference as a download link and QR code. This will publicise the research itself to the

wider audience.

Three of the contents we used have been extracted from the “Bangladesh National

Hygiene Baseline Survey 2014” and one from “Faecal Contamination of Commuters’

Hands in Public Places in Dhaka City 2014”. Both of the researches have been carried

out by icddr,b with inputs from WaterAid.

We developed the contents in Bangla with strong visuals in an engaging tone. The key

findings were presented in form of infographic expressed in simple language like a

product advertisement. The copy was then checked with the research team to make

sure that we’re not wrongly communicating the things. This took a number of back and

forth to reach a point of agreement. It was worth spending the time as the final product

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came out of this process found to be simple, clearly understandable, engaging yet

scientifically correct. All the messages end up with promoting hand washing with soap.

We have chosen a national daily that has both print and online publication. We picked

Prothom Alo (www.prothom-alo.com), the highest circulated daily in Bangladesh. Its

readership is around three million per day; over half a million buy the print edition. As

per Google ranking – its website is accessed from 210 countries and the highest hit

Bangla website of the world. We have published messages in the form of ad in the daily

Prothom Alo at the bottom part of page 5. The advert was available online the same

day and is still accessible online at its archive. A total of four ads have been published

in four consecutive days starting from 19 Nov ’14, the world toilet day.

The contents are available in following pages with an English version (translated just to

communicate internally, not scientifically copy-edited or checked). Next to creative that

has been published there is an online link.

Ad 1: availability of soap and water around toilet

Newspaper insertions published on 19 Nov 2014

English translation of the ad

Weblink: http://epaper.prothom-alo.com/view/dhaka/2014-11-19/5

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Ad 2: hand hygiene of mothers

Newspaper insertions published on 20 Nov 2014

English translation of the ad

Weblink: http://epaper.prothom-alo.com/view/dhaka/2014-11-20/5

Ad 3: hand and cleanliness of children

Newspaper insertions published on 21 Nov 2014

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English translation of the ad

Weblink: http://epaper.prothom-alo.com/view/dhaka/2014-11-21/5

Ad 4: hand hygiene of commuters

Newspaper insertions published on 22 Nov 2014

English translation of the ad

Weblink: http://epaper.prothom-alo.com/view/dhaka/2014-11-22/5

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As soon as the newspaper advertisement came out we started receiving a number of

media and public queries. Also it has successfully drawn attention of the actors within

and beyond the sector and we got numerous communications in this regards.

The ads were shared through social media channels as well that has quite a good

number of hits. The post insights (engagement) of each post on the day they went live

are as follows (drawn from official Facebook page of WaterAid Bangladesh):

Post 1: availability of soap and water around toilet

Post 2: hand hygiene of mothers

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Post 3: hand and cleanliness of children

Post 4: hand hygiene of commuters

After the success of this simple and straight infographics WaterAid Bangladesh is

considering to share them in other public spheres.

All the infographics in high res are available to download in the following link:

https://app.box.com/s/uwjigrzwzieb9xsrrrct

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D. Training/ Capacity Building

ToT on weaning food for Govt. Officials from Ministry of Women and Children's

Affairs (MoWCA)

WaterAid as a member of the international consortium of SHARE led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and in Bangladesh country platform working with the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Control, Bangladesh (icddr,b) and WaterAid Bangladesh to generate rigorous and relevant research for use in the field of sanitation and hygiene. The purpose of SHARE is to join together the energy and resources of the five partners (the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Control, Bangladesh (icddr,b); Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI); and WaterAid) in order to make a real difference to the lives of people all over the world who struggle with the realities of poor sanitation and hygiene. WaterAid Bangladesh is pleased to disseminate the SHARE funded research titled "Hygiene intervention reduces contamination of weaning food in Bangladesh" through organising an intensive training on essential WASH and Hygiene issues in partnership with Sisimpur Outreach Project, Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MoWCA), Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh (GoB). The training has been organised for GoB's District Child Affairs Officers of 64 districts, 6 Upazilla Shishu Academy Officer and other district level government officers on 19 June 2013 at Gronthagar Bhaban of Shishu Academy (Library of Children's Academy). Sisimpur Outreach Project headed by honorable Deputy Secretary coordinated all processes for confirming the participation of 64 Districts' Child Affairs government officials, 6 Upazilla level Shishu Academy government officials, Bangladesh Government High level of officials including Honorable Secretary, Joint Secretary and others. WaterAid Bangladesh made available all trainers and specialists for facilitating the training.

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The training programme attained the following objectives:

To disseminate the awareness message through the following organogram of the 196,590 people can be covered by 1 cycle of ToT

70 GoB Officials 64 District officer 6 Upazila officer

3320 Teachers

64 Dist. =3200 School 6 Upazila= 120 School

193,200 child & parents 64400 parents and 1288000 Children

196,590 people Total number of beneficiary

To sensitise the high level of policy makers and executives of the GoB on the issue