This presentation by Megan Williams, Senior Manager, Behaviour Change, describes how the NGO Splash uses schools as catalysts to promote city-wide community water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) coverage. There are examples of research on school and household nudges in Addis, Ababa, Ethiopia; clean water kiosks for schools in Kathmandu, Nepal and city-wide training in 1,500 schools on hygiene and behaviour change in Kolkata, India. The presentation was given during the Webinar: “Systems approaches to hygiene behavior change – lessons across WASH, health, and education” hosted by the Global Handwashing Partnership and IRC.

1. Megan Williams
Senior Manager, Behavior Change

2. In 1950, 75% of the world
lived in the countryside –
most living entirely off the
grid.
In 2050, 75% of the
planet will live in a city,
with growth primarily
fueled by slums
25% 75%
A lack of access to WASH
can have an economic
impact up to as much as
7%on Gross Domestic
Product
4.5Billion people globally do
not have access to safely
managed sanitation
88%of diarrheal disease
burden is attributable to
poor WASH
The beneficial impacts of
incremental
improvements to
sanitation, such as fewer
diarrhea incidences, have
been found to be greater
among urban dwellers

3. Every week, 3 million of the world’s poorest people migrate into the cities

4. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene are rising as critical gaps

5. We believe there is a better, faster and cheaper way forward

6. Kathmandu has a population of 2.5 million people, many living below the poverty line

7. Splash’s work at poor, government schools in Kathmandu expands across the city

8. SCHOOLS AT THE CENTERSCHOOLS ARE THE BEACHHEAD TO BROADER
COMMUNITY COVERAGE, BEHAVIOR CHANGE AND
MARKET PENETRATION
SCHOOLS AT THE CENTER
We believe starting our work in schools, then
leveraging that base for city-wide community
WASH coverage is one of the most innovative
social sector ideas afoot. If we prove it is
effective and efficient the scale potential is
limitless.

9. DISTRIBUTION CENTER
With an adequate saturation of schools within a city, they are the most efficient
conduit to the very communities most at-risk from poor WASH services.
SCHOOLS AT THE CENTER
▸ In partnership with USAID WASHPaLS, Splash will
conduct a research study in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
examining school and household nudges.
▸ The household study will involve 240 homes. 120
homes will be a control group and 120 will receive
a “nudge package” that is distributed during a
parent meeting at the school. We will evaluate the
effects of distributing the nudges on handwashing
behavior.
▸ The nudge package will include a handwashing
barrel, mirror and soap dish.

10. CHILDREN AS CHANGE
AGENTSCan children help spark demand for improved WASH
services at the household level through adopting new
patterns of behavior?
▸ Soap is always present through the promotion of school-
wide soap drives
▸ A recent qualitative study was conducted at 35
households, in which 26 households had a Splash
intervention at their school, and 9 were control schools
without a Splash program.
▸ 85% of intervention households had soap present at
the handwashing station, while 33% of control
households had soap present at the handwashing
station
▸ Intervention households averaged 4.04 steps of their
handwashing demonstration (out of 6), compared to
1.8 steps for control households.
SCHOOLS AT THE CENTER

11. MARKET PENETRATION
Splash has been conducting a micro-enterprise in Nepal since 2014 to sell clean water
from our school system to the broader community. The money from the kiosks goes
directly to the schools to fund ongoing maintenance of their water filtration systems.
SCHOOLS AT THE CENTER

12. 2,277,651
Million liters sold
$16,098
In Revenue
$9,028
In Profit
9 Kiosks

13. GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP
FOR SCALEThe Department of Education in Kolkata, India has asked Splash to conduct city-wide
training for 1,500 schools on hygiene and behavior change over the span of five months.
Splash will lead 40 separate training sessions and use them as an opportunity to
mobilize the influence that these schools have on the surrounding community through
the Parent Teacher Associations.
SCHOOLS AT THE CENTER

14. Household survey, gap analysis and community engagement pilots in Kolkata, India

15. 100% COVERAGE
WHAT’S NEXT?
▸ Splash believes
sustainable change
cannot happen through
small pilots, we target
city-wide coverage
through government
partnership
▸ By 2023, Splash aims to
provide WASH services
to 100% of all
government schools and
hospitals in Kathmandu,
Addis Ababa, and
Kolkata reaching over
one million kids.