Effects of program and institutional design on district-level CLTS management in Malawi

Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a participatory method for sanitation promotion that is quickly becoming the primary approach used by developing countries to generate improvements in sanitation behaviour, resulting in open defecation free (ODF) communities. Since 2009, Engineers Without Borders Canada has worked in Malawi to provide technical assistance on CLTS to 12 districts. EWB has gathered evidence that the management behaviour of the district is a key indicator of whether CLTS implementation will achieve ODF sustainability in Malawi. Program designers such as national governments and major donors can encourage good management by creating incentives and systems for project implementation that encourage these behaviours in districts. Furthermore, program designers should recognize that a lack these incentives and systems discourages good management in districts, and that effective CLTS implementation cannot happen without good management behaviours

An assessment of baseline hand washing practice in Malawi and the relevance of proxy indicators

The Government of Malawi has launched a National Hand Washing Campaign in order to coordinate and intensify efforts on hand washing promotion. However, much of the reported data on actual hand washing practice is unreliable and scanty as it often relies on responses to questionnaires which may not reflect actual practice. This study collected qualitative information on hand washing practice in a few selected villages in rural Malawi to help qualify estimates of hand washing practice from quantitative information collected in national surveys. The findings of the study revealed that hand washing occurs regularly in 50% of households with hand washing facilities. The presence of a hand washing facility alone did not predict hand washing practice unless it is filled with water. Hence a better proxy indicator for assessing hand washing practice in Malawi is observing for households with water in their hand washing facility