Approaches

This folder highlights the various approaches HIP will use to improve hygiene practices at scale.

Often the impact of environmental health interventions has been limited by the failure to understand and influence human behavior. Technology alone is rarely sufficient to change behavior. HIP will consider a “behavior first” approach that allows for 1) identifying and promoting and facilitating improved behaviors that have a significant positive impact on health and are also feasible for users, i.e. people both willing and able to make changes and 2) designing program interventions that motivate and facilitate improved behaviors.

Marketing Models

HIP will work to advance a sustainable marketing model in the water, sanitation and hygiene communities by fostering strategic partnerships among multiple actors, stimulating multiple interventions to present and allow access to the solution and acting at multiple levels to create a supportive environment. HIP will seek new arguments to support commercial private sector involvement in hygiene improvement effortsby building on other successful innovations in health social marketing such as bednet sales and stimulating fortified food products.

Private Sector

The private sector is not always included in health and hygiene programming, yet private-sector products are involved in most hygiene improvement efforts. HIP aims to work with a wide range of private sector partners from manufacturing and commercial entities that sell hardware and essential hygiene improvement products such as latrines, soap, and water disinfection treatment options, to non-governmental and faith-based organizations that design and deliver water, sanitation and hygiene programs for various populations.

Working at scale

HIP defines starting at scale as the coordinated actions of many stakeholders working on a common goal to the social benefit of targeted groups. It is the convergence of skills, interventions and availability of products and services at the same time, in the same places to benefit the same targeted communities reaching enough people to have health impact. Key characteristics that are intertwined and help to achieve scale include: multiples (stakeholders, levels, options and interventions), partnerships, private sector involvement, mainstreaming, sustainability and saturation.