Reach Out and Reach Up: A global study on external perceptions of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Summary
This document is a summary of a research project (download the full research) commissioned by Sanitation and Water for All and undertaken by Browning Environmental Communications (BEC) during 2021. The objective of the research was to understand how different ‘external’ audiences perceive the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, and to explore what messages resonate with them.
The findings and suggestions in this document can help shape how WASH communications are framed, particularly when engaging other sectors and political leaders at the highest levels of decision-making.
This document distills information from the SWA research project, first presenting eight key findings that WASH communicators can use to inform their engagement with audiences ‘outside’ the sector. It then considers some specific insights for six sectors – economic development, health, education, humanitarian response, human rights, and climate change, and concludes with some insights into how WASH is viewed by other sectors in different regions of the world, and what that can mean for communications messaging and strategies.
Key global findings
8 key insights from the research study into global views on water, sanitation and hygiene
Sector insights
How professionals from different sectors perceive WASH
Regional insights
How professionals from different regions perceive the benefits of WASH for each sector
WASH is perceived by many outside the sector as high cost
When professionals from other sectors were asked about what was holding back WASH from being prioritized, around one-fifth of all those interviewed mentioned the high costs of improving WASH services – and for water and sanitation in particular. Perceptions of high costs were mentioned most as the biggest barrier to prioritizing WASH.
To counter the perception of WASH being high cost, consider commissioning a cost-benefit analysis that will clearly demonstrate the medium to longer-term benefits of investing in WASH. These could be fiscal benefits or social benefits, but such analysis should provide numbers that clearly demonstrate the long-term benefits of WASH investment.
View case studies in "A Handbook for Finance Ministers – how to make public investment work"
The risks of inaction can provide a powerful message
Many participants in the survey recommended messaging that communicates the consequences of not acting to improve water, sanitation and hygiene services. Interviewees suggested underlining the risks that poor WASH services present to other sectors’ wider ambitions, as well as the financial risks and costs that are caused by a failure to provide adequate water, sanitation and hygiene services.
Perceived ‘risks’, and the most serious consequences of inaction are likely to differ depending on the audience. It is therefore also crucial that WASH communications consider and reflect the nature of the target audience’s work and their top priorities. Applying that information to the context of intended communications activity is likely to be highly effective at increasing engagement with external audiences.It can also be effective to think about shifting the timescale of an audience’s usual perception of risk (from the immediate or short-term to the medium-term, for example) to highlight risks to their priorities of not addressing WASH, which they may not have considered.
Framing WASH as aspirational resonates well
Many professionals recommended that messaging on WASH should be aspirational and illustrate how enhanced WASH can change communities’ and families’ lives for the better.
Considering the aspirations of communities and families when developing WASH messaging and strategic communications can be effective. Messages that focus on the transformative power of WASH to realize these ambitions are likely to resonate well. This could mean framing WASH services themselves as something that communities desire and demand. Equally, it could mean focusing on other stated goals, such as improved health or economic productivity, and illustrating how WASH can help to deliver them.
Sectors often focus on one element of WASH
The research indicated that other sectors often had a focus on (or an increased knowledge of) one or more certain elements of WASH, rather than WASH as a whole.
Understand and reflect the importance given to certain elements of WASH, where appropriate. It is perfectly acceptable – indeed sometimes necessary – to focus on a particular element of WASH. Such focused communications can often provide an opportunity for engagement on broader aspects of WASH in the future. Knowing which elements of WASH are less prioritized by specific sectors does not mean ignoring it – exploring links between better hygiene and economic growth (through improved health), for example, could be an effective area for engagement. Communications that focus on increasing knowledge, and highlighting the advantages of a less familiar aspect of WASH, tailored to sector priorities, are likely to be more effective than more complex communications that rely on any assumed knowledge.
The power of WASH to increase security and help especially vulnerable groups is seen as a key strength
Many people in the survey – particularly those working in education, human rights and humanitarian response – recommended that WASH should be communicated as a protection or security issue, focusing on how it can help particularly vulnerable groups. These sectors recommended messages that connect improving WASH with protecting peoples’ personal security and providing safe spaces.
WASH communications highlighting the plight of underserved communities offer a chance to give voice to the powerless/poor. WASH communications present a dual benefit – it resonates well as a means of addressing inequality, and can also help address a key reason given globally for inaction – an absence of political priority. WASH communications can therefore be highly effective as a means of engagement and redress with decision-makers.
WASH communications can also be effective at engaging governments by focusing on WASH as a security issue, as a way of increasing the safety of communities and improving the stability of populations.
Consider legacy when engaging high-level decision-makers
The research suggested that political leaders could be engaged by exploring how WASH can be part of establishing a political legacy, by drawing on and illustrating the long-term benefits of WASH.
Communications and associated advocacy strategies that confer a sense of the political opportunities of better WASH provision are important. Increasing the profile of WASH as a priority election issue, for example through the development of WASH compacts, can shift perceptions of political leaders to consider improved WASH as something they will be associated with long after they have left office.
Understand and engage politically strategic groups that may influence leaders’ perceptions of areas of electoral and political importance. This may mean engaging those that are more likely to vote, to increase the profile of WASH as a political issue.
WASH communications should align with political cycles
Many professionals recommended messages that aligned WASH to political lifecycles, where appropriate – using three-to-five-year timeframes for planning WASH communications. They suggested this would help engage governments, by mirroring the political terms of office. This recommendation was particularly popular among those working in health, economic development, and humanitarian response.
Prepare for the prospect of a new government. This could mean preparing strategies for engaging new and relatively inexperienced ministers, as well as engaging seasoned decision-makers at the start of a new term of office.
This also means considering strategies that can help prioritize WASH as an electoral issue, where appropriate – galvanizing communities, and developing electoral compacts between government and the electorate. Such communications can create a sense of political commitment – and accountability, measuring how well those commitments have been delivered at the ballot box.
Frame WASH in the context of wider political and global agendas
The research found that while it is sometimes necessary to focus on just one element of WASH, it is also necessary to consider a broader perspective: how WASH fits in with other priorities of leaders, government, or other sectors.
The most effective context or linked agenda will vary; but WASH should be framed as an essential component for delivering the agenda that resonates most with the relevant audience, in order to be most effective at motivating that audience to prioritize WASH.
Keep in mind that political leaders, in particular, must share their attention and time between several priority areas. This can limit the prioritization they give to WASH. Understanding these competing priorities and considering how WASH be framed in those terms can help cut through and raise WASH higher up the political agenda.
Economic development professionals...
...value robust, recent data that show the fiscal benefits of investing in WASH.
...are likely to respond to messaging that focuses on the risk of inaction of improving WASH services (the financial costs of inaction, particularly).
...view the hygiene element of WASH as relatively less important to their work. Communications and analysis that explain how improved hygiene services can increase economic productivity could therefore be an area of opportunity.
Health professionals...
...primarily recommended emphasizing the short-term risks of poor access to WASH services, as well as aspirational messaging.
...were the only sector putting access to WASH as a top-three sector priority. Their top priority (disease prevention) also relies on the provision of adequate WASH services. They are likely to be the highly receptive to tailored communications that understand and target the benefits of WASH to their sector.
...see hygiene and sanitation as slightly more important to their work than water, and nearly half indicated these were both poorly prioritized compared to water. Health professionals may respond well to communications that focus on what they see as these relatively neglected elements of WASH.
...offered very similar views to each other on how WASH could advance their sector. This high level of concurrence suggests the top three perceptions of WASH above are particularly likely to resonate well across the sector.
Education professionals...
...recommended a focus on aspirational messaging.
...stressed that communications should explain the cost benefits that WASH investment delivers, for communities and their sector. Nearly half said messaging should include clear cost-benefit analysis.
...recommended messages that highlight the risks of poor WASH services for people, focusing on the human costs of inadequate service provision.
...gave a very high importance for hygiene (nearly 95% said hygiene was important or very important to their work)
Humanitarian response professionals...
...primarily suggested messaging that emphasizes the near-term risks of poor access to WASH services and the connection between WASH and safety.
...already perceive their sector as cross-cutting, with their top priorities linking to human rights, health and climate, reflecting the intersecting nature of their work.
...indicated a preference for messaging focused on water as a priority need. But communications explaining the value of hygiene and sanitation in crisis contexts could be an area of opportunity.
...recommended taking a systems approach perspective, particularly to engage political leaders.
Human rights professionals...
...recommended messaging on how WASH helps create safer societies, particularly for marginalized groups. They were the most likely sector to consider framing WASH messages around gender and the safety of women.
...often referred to WASH as a way to deliver the health and wellbeing objectives of the SDGs.
...suggested considering risk timescale, particularly by highlighting the long-term risks of poor WASH services.
...recommended that WASH should be framed as a security issue when engaging governments.
Climate change professionals...
...gave top three priorities which can ALL be improved through enhancements to WASH.
...did not indicate that they perceived the link between improved WASH and delivery of their sector’s priorities. Only 15% highlighted that improved WASH could help vulnerable communities adapt to climate risks, for example. The direct beneficial link between WASH improvements and climate resilience or mitigation is, therefore, a clear area for WASH communications to explore.
...recommended that WASH communications should focus on or emphasize water, for example as a finite resource.
- Respondents often focused on the community and human benefits of WASH as opposed to financial. For example, Latin America economic development professionals recommended linking WASH investments with community benefits, as well as financial.
- They saw WASH as a way to protect and support vulnerable groups. Every single health professional interviewed in Latin America said enhanced WASH would benefit their work by protecting marginalized groups, compared to 10% and 25% saying protection of marginalized groups in Asia and Africa, respectively.
- They had a relatively low perception of the benefits of improved WASH for addressing climate change compared to other regions, suggesting a possible area for WASH communications to explore.
- Respondents were particularly focused on water. Climate professionals in Latin America only made messaging recommendations about water, and 80% of humanitarian response professionals from the region said messaging should focus solely on water.
- Respondents often focused on community wellbeing, protection and safety aspects of WASH, as opposed to financial. For example, particularly high numbers of humanitarian response professionals from Asia saw the benefits of WASH as protecting marginalized groups from harm.
- They often linked WASH with human rights issues and gender inequalities. Close to a third (30.7%) of human rights professionals in Asia, for example, recommended messages that illustrate WASH as a way to protect women.
- They were most likely to link climate resilience and improvements in WASH.
- Respondents suggested that robust data was particularly important – especially those from the health and education sectors.
- Respondents in Africa indicated a strong link between improved WASH and disease prevention, compared to other regions, with half of all health professionals mentioning this as a benefit of improved WASH.
- They also indicated a strong link between improved WASH and educational performance compared to other regions, with nearly half of all education professionals highlighting this as a benefit of improved WASH. They were also more likely to link improved WASH to better education attendance
- They were particularly focused on water. A third of humanitarian professionals in Africa recommended messages focused solely on water rather than sanitation and hygiene
- Respondents were relatively less likely to see benefits of improved WASH for building community resilience to climate change compared to other regions, suggesting a possible area for WASH communications to explore.
- Many respondents recommended messaging that communicates financial risks of inaction. Over half (52%) of economic development professionals in Europe & North America suggested messaging that shows how poor delivery on WASH can undermine economic progress.
- They were particularly focused on the need for hard data to show the investment potential of WASH. Recommendations for messaging included understanding and addressing investor appetites for risk, the benefits of WASH to the private sector, and explicit use of the word ‘profitability’.
- They were likely to stress the need for a broad perspective, or a ‘systems approach’, often with particular reference to realizing numerous other human rights. Close to half (43%) of humanitarian response professionals in Europe & North America recommended communicating WASH in this way.
- Respondents were highly likely to view WASH as a way to tackle gender inequities in education – with two-thirds seeing this as a key benefit of improved WASH.
Reach Out and Reach Up: A global study on external perceptions of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
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