Behaviour change for improved hygiene and sanitation: not only a household affair!

There is common agreement in the WASH sector that household hygiene and sanitation in rural areas in developing countries is, first and foremost, the responsibility of the household. With the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach, a stronger role of the community has been introduced in changing the hygiene and sanitation behaviour of the household members.

The PILS (Performance Improvement through Learning in Sanitation) project in three districts in Northern Uganda has focused on strengthening the supporting role to communities of local government and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) by facilitating district- and sub-county-based learning and action research. Working in a post-war environment, PILS has shown that improvements in coordination and the introduction of a learning process among the decentralised stakeholders can contribute to innovation, better financing and local solutions. The experiences with the PILS project can help the development of hygiene and sanitation policies and their implementation in Uganda.

This briefing note looks at the context of sanitation and hygiene in Northern Uganda, describes the PILS learning approach and methodology, and sets out the key learnings from the PILS experience.