IEC for WESS : report of field test

The National Drinking Water Mission and UNICEF are in the process of developing a social mobilization strategy which aims at achieving effective management of drinking water and handpumps in rural areas by changing current knowledge, attitude and practice in the community. Several communications options for the strategy, developed by LINTAS (communication consultants to the programme), have been pre-tested to assess the general acceptability of the developed options and to obtain cues for correction. This document is the result of a research study (1991) commissioned to this end. The study was carried out in one district of each of the following regions: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, East Uttar Pradesh and West Uttar Pradesh and was aimed at men and women between ages 20-30 in rural areas. The various communications options sought to convey messages about water and disease, safe water sources, use and maintenance of handpumps, safe storage and handling of water, personal hygiene such as handwashing, and safe excreta disposal. The following forms of communication, video on wheels (VOW), TV spot, radio spot, mela song, posters, and flip charts, were assessed. This report evaluates: (1) the efficiency of the VOW operations; (2) the noticeability, registration, comprehension, relevance, execution, tone and style pertaining to the audio-visual or audio forms; (3) the impact of the VOW operation in changing KAP; (4) comprehension of the posters; (5) comprehension and mechanics of use relating to the flip chart; (6) the Dharti Maata mnemonic for any specific dissonance; and (7) the overall impact of the mela package. The report concludes that all of the communications forms proved successful to some degree but that some issues such as water handling (use of ladles) warranted greater emphasis. An important lesson was learned in Ranchi. The communications were developed in Hindi for the Hindi belt and, although Ranchi (Bihar) is part of the Hindi belt, there are tribal pockets where the use of different dialects caused comprehension problems. Religious diversity was not found to be a problem in the nature of the response to communications - ethnic compatability was a more significant factor than religion. The report also includes the questionnaires and observation formats used in assessing the effectiveness of the various communications options.