Hygiene training for sanitation enterprises in Vanuatu

Staff from the two sanitation enterprises in Vanuatu recently participated in hygiene education sessions to build their understanding of the health benefits of good sanitation and washing hands with soap.

The SAMAPETA and Tuburah community-based sanitation enterprise staff participated in hygiene education activities based on Live & Learn’s Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) resources, including community hygiene and sanitation mapping exercises and how washing hands with soap disrupts the transmission pathways of many diseases.

Hygiene education like this is an important part of the hygiene promotion activities of the community-based sanitation enterprises. As part of generating demand for toilet ownership the sanitation enterprise need to be able to answers questions from potential customers in the community about the benefits of having an improved toilet.

The hygiene education sessions will be complemented by further training in social marketing methods for hygiene promotion, and hygiene promotion campaigns linked to toilet sales campaigns. Hygiene promotion using a social marketing approach combines education activities with marketing approaches that target the attitudes, habits and motivations of people in the community concerning their health.

The hygiene education training was provided by Live & Learn through the Western Pacific Sanitation Marketing & Innovation project, funded by the Australian government through the Civil Society WASH Fund.