Hygiene Education through Multimedia Tools: Lessons Learned

This 8-page brief provides lessons learned from a hygiene education through multimedia tools project implemented in Burkina Faso by Sahel Solidarité with the support of the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD). Since 2005, Sahel Solidarité has worked with Water Aid in the field of hygiene and sanitation promotion to change behaviours. The project with IICD was designed to enhance these awareness activities by incorporating multimedia tools in the methodology. According to the report, the project successfully resulted in training of personnel and the population in health and sanitation.

The report explains that facilitators of Sahel Solidarité taught two hygienists in 20 villages (a man and a woman in each village) to take pictures and make presentations using multimedia tools. In addition, 245 teachers, students, civil servants, and farmers received training on basic computer skills. Hygienists took pictures of good and bad hygiene practices in the villages, which were then developed and edited into a PowerPoint presentation by the extension officers and presented to the people. Animation sessions took place in the evening, to make sure the projections could be seen clearly. Through a participative method that promotes discussion, the project team and the village hygienists worked to raise awareness among the population about good hygiene and sanitation practices.

This report is based on two evaluations from 2007 and 2008. For the 2007 evaluation, seven focus group meetings were organised. For the 2008 evaluation, the project used questionnaires followed by a focus group meeting during which the survey results were discussed. The research showed that the following impact was made by the project:

Capacity building

• Facilitator capacity - The training helped facilitators improve the quality of animations by incorporating pictures, doing video editing, and editing PowerPoint presentations. In addition, they improved the quality of their activity reports sent by email to Ouagadougou. Facilitators developed multimedia products including CD videos of sketches on hand washing and use and maintenance of latrines for the students and videos of interviews on the management of water points in the village, which assist information dissemination and encourage other actors outside the project area to emulate the project's approach.
• Hygienist capacity - Hygienists now take pictures of good and bad water hygiene and sanitation practices in villages. The interviews revealed that with the cameras used by hygienists, it is easier to get messages across during animations by showing concrete examples.
• Capacity of school health clubs - Computer training for student members of school health clubs resulted in the use of images taken in the community for health education. There are other impacts as well, including the production of a school health club journal on hygiene promotion and the setup of a tracking system for waterborne diseases in the schools.
• Institutional capacity of Sahel Solidarité - Interviews with the core users revealed positive impacts not only at the project level, but also within the organisation. The experience in ICT of the Sahel Solidarité team has improved the quality of reports and the retention and documentation system and facilitated communication through the use of email. Through training on basic maintenance, the team knows how to install and repair computers.

Hygiene and sanitation awareness

• More participation during sessions - With the introduction of information, communication, and technology (ICT) tools, hygienists and members of the population say that there is greater participation during the sessions. The capacity to see the pictures on the screen allows a better view of images and a stronger engagement by people. Previously, the drawings on the cards did not give a realistic picture of the situation which resulted in poor participation of the group.
• Hygiene behaviour - According to hygienists, hygiene and sanitation awareness seems higher with the use of multimedia tools. They noted a rapid change of behaviour in water hygiene and sanitation behaviours.

Lessons learned

According to the researchers, the following are key lessons learned:

• The multimedia tools help to change behaviour in the villages - In the North, multimedia tools are already largely used to facilitate learning. The innovative methodology of Sahel Solidarité shows that these tools can also contribute to a change of behaviour in communities that have never seen a computer or even a television, by increasing visualisation, understanding, interaction, and participation.
• A solid preparation in order to gain the trust of officers, authorities, and the population, is needed - a number of meetings were organised between members of the project team in order to get the same understanding of the project contents. By reducing ignorance and thus resistance, this thorough preparation contributed to the success of the project.
• Learning from mistakes without embarrassing the actors - To avoid embarrassing the actors, hygienists always discuss the practice with the persons and ask them if they can take a picture and show it to the community during the animation. The hygienists live in the village and are trusted by the community.

According to the report, next steps include facilitating access to second hand computers for the population, continuing to build capacity among the firled workers, and meeting the demand of neighbouring villages by extending the project to areas that it does not reach yet.