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• (Journal Article) Results from implementing a cohesive strategy and standardized monitoring programme for hygiene kit distribution in Myanmar

  01.01.2021
  Hygiene kits are commonly distributed in humanitarian emergencies to interrupt disease transmission and provide dignity. Despite being commonly implemented, hygiene kit distribution interventions are under-researched, and there is a lack of knowledge on kit efficacy and effectiveness. In Myanmar, the WASH cluster developed a national hygiene kit distribution and monitoring strategy. The research was aimed at determining the effectiveness of this strategy in the context of protracted internally displaced persons camps in Myanmar. To understand programme strategy, we reviewed documents against inclusion criteria; extracted and categorized data for included documents; analysed data; and summarized results. Twenty-six documents met the inclusion criteria of describing strategy development (47 per cent), monitoring in Rakhine (47 per cent) or Kachin State (3 per cent), or monitoring menstrual health and hygiene programme (3 per cent). We identified the strategy was successfully adopted and adapted for Kachin and Rakhine states; however, limitations were identified in receiving consistent monitoring data. We found hygiene kit distributions need to consider local context, including population mobility, local markets and availability of products, and household expenses and debt. Due to these interrelated factors, the percentage of households selling kit items decreased over time; additionally, soap and sanitary pad presence was significantly associated with household income. Consistently, women reported preferring disposable pads for menstrual health and hygiene due to privacy concerns. Programmatically, it is recommended to adapt hygiene kit distributions to local contexts, continue to distribute hygiene kits in protracted contexts to identified at-risk households, distribute disposable pads, and continue revising and improving strategy and monitoring tools.

• (Journal Article) How commercial banks can offer financial products to SMEs for investing in energy efficiency

  01.09.2014
  Energy consumption can account for up to 50 per cent of the total business costs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Investments targeting energy savings provide a quick way for a small business to gain a cost advantage. Well-designed energy efficiency projects often show positive cash flows relatively quickly and allow for the projects themselves to pay back investments (and loans). Globally, there is a significant untapped potential to reduce energy costs. Demand-side market failures relate to lack of information. Supply-side market failures relate to limited access to finance for energy efficiency investments. Sustainable energy finance facilities (SEFFs) address this financing gap and provide access to technical advice for SMEs and banks. The success of SEFFs has demonstrated that commercial banks can bridge the sustainable energy financing gap by: 1) understanding the opportunity to improve their clients' cost structures using the right communication approach; 2) leveraging existing information from their own loan portfolio combined with publicly available information on the energy performance of technologies; 3) ensuring dedicated staff have project finance skills and that contracts are suitably tailored; 4) gaining access to energy expertise; and 5) having access to a list of high energy performance technologies.

• (Journal Article) Role of inclusive market systems development in promoting resilience: evidence from World Vision projects

  01.03.2022
  Evidence on whether market systems development (MSD) programmes for extremely poor smallholder farmers in low-income countries are associated with resilient outcomes when shocks/stressors appear is limited. We discuss the role of the inclusive MSD (iMSD) approach to generate resilience among vulnerable populations and report empirical evidence from World Vision’s project areas (with iMSD activities) and comparison communities in Tanzania and Rwanda. The panel data collected between 2017 and 2021 provide evidence on differences in household-level resilience in the face of COVID-19 shock. Descriptive estimates from the 2021 survey show project households had statistically greater food security, market participation, and perception of being fully/partially recovered than comparison households in both Tanzania and Rwanda. Integration in market systems helped buffer participants. Though food insecurity declined between survey rounds in Tanzania, it worsened in Rwanda, but more so among comparison households. Respondents in Rwanda experienced stricter COVID-19 ‘lockdowns’ and more limited iMSD activities than Tanzanians.

• (Journal Article) Intervention mapping as a framework for planning the implementation of urine diversion toilets and Ecosan education in a community school in Kavre, Nepal

  01.04.2021
  Use of human excreta as fertilizer is not a new concept. However, with the use of the modern water-flush toilet, human excreta becomes mixed with water and causes environmental pollution. To reemphasize the nutritional value of human urine in the field, a urine diversion toilet was constructed in a community school situated in Kavre, Nepal. The purpose of establishing the urine diversion toilet is to improve hygiene outcomes through promoting proper sanitation and transforming the school community’s regular practice and attitudes towards urine as a resource. To ensure effective implementation of the urine diversion toilets, intervention mapping was used as a guiding framework. The aim of this paper is to document how the urine diversion toilet was planned and implemented in the school and how the urine diversion toilet was connected with the curriculum to address concerns regarding water, sanitation, and hygiene with a focus on sustainability through intervention mapping. This study highlights the benefits of intervention mapping as a systematic and step-by-step process for the planning and implementation of the urine diversion toilet. This study also highlights the benefits of connecting urine diversion toilets with school gardening, and engaging with local government and other stakeholders about the value of the approach.

• (Journal Article) FHI 360’s labour market assessment as a tool for adapting interventions to reduce extreme poverty

  01.03.2022
  People were thrust back under the poverty line in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflict. As a result, the development community is exploring ways to mitigate the negative impact of this regression and help the poorest youth and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) recover by linking them to market-aligned livelihoods. This paper examines how FHI 360’s utilization of labour market assessments ensures that youth and AGYW programming is market-driven and aligned, linking the extreme poor to sustainable livelihood opportunities. Three cases are presented where FHI 360’s Labour Market Assessment (LMA) was used on projects that support extreme poor youth and AGYW who have been affected by conflict, health crises, and now COVID-19. Each case reviews how FHI 360’s LMA identified nuanced market opportunities for youth and AGYW programme participants.

• (Journal Article) Why do some behaviours change more easily than others? Water-use behaviour interventions in rural Nepal

  01.10.2015
  Water-sector development is inevitably based on changes in people’s behaviour. We analyse why some types of domestic water-use behaviours change more easily than others. Our case study is a water supply and sanitation intervention in remote and rural Nepal. We found that collective opportunities, degree of individual freedom, and individual incentives influenced the ease of the promoted behaviour changes. The enhanced individual opportunities, incentives, and collective tolerance enabled behaviour changes that were regarded as beneficial by the people themselves, whereas the existing social traditions in our case-study context often restricted those changes. Often, the individual agency and the collective traditions confronted one another. We suggest that this study can provide a design for predicting possible opportunities and challenges regarding behaviour changes in field operations, and for enhancing joint operation of individual and collective capabilities at local levels in the development intervention context.

• (Journal Article) Chlorination of drinking water in emergencies: a review of knowledge to develop recommendations for implementation and research needed

  01.01.2017
  Clean water provision is a critical component of emergency response, and chlorination is widely used in emergencies to treat water. To provide responders with practical, evidence-based recommendations for implementing chlorination programmes and recommend areas for future research, we conducted a literature review of chlorination in emergencies, supplemented with a literature review on chlorination in general. We identified 106 total documents, including 7 with information on technical efficacy, 26 on chlorine dosage, 22 on technical challenges, 21 on product options, 8 on user acceptability, 33 on programmes for emergencies, and 8 on monitoring. We found that: 1) international chlorine dosage recommendations in emergencies are highly inconsistent; 2) high-quality information from the general chlorination literature on challenges of chlorination can be adapted for emergencies; 3) many chlorine products are available for use in point-of-delivery, point-of-source, and point-of-use emergency-response programmes; 4) information on the effectiveness of different chlorination programmes in emergencies varies, ranging from little data available to high-quality data that can inform programming; 5) information on user acceptability of chlorination in emergencies is lacking; and 6) monitoring data on chlorine programme effectiveness in emergencies are lacking. In this manuscript, we provide a summary of knowledge on chlorination in emergencies, recommendations for programme implementation, and recommendations for future research needed to assist communities and agencies responding to the increasing number of natural disasters and outbreaks worldwide.

• (Journal Article) Trade-off between outreach and sustainability of microfinance institutions: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

  01.09.2017
  The changing landscape of the microfinance industry, which is characterized by a decline in donor funding, has reignited debates regarding the ability of microfinance institutions to serve the poor while remaining sustainable. In this study, we examined the relationship between outreach and sustainability in the context of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and analysed the determinants of sustainability using data from 71 microfinance institutions (MFIs) across 10 countries. By applying correlation analysis and fixed effects regression, we found mixed evidence of a trade-off between the depth of outreach and operational self-sustainability. Furthermore, the results show that interest rate is a major determinant for MFI sustainability, which is consistent with the institutionalist view. Factors that significantly influence the sustainability of MFIs in SSA are the average loan size as a percentage of gross national income, gross loan portfolio, portfolio at risk, operating expenses to assets ratio, governance effectiveness, and the interest rate on loans granted to clients. The study recommends that managers of MFIs and decision makers in the region closely monitor their cost-side variables and improve productivity by adopting measures such as information communication techniques that enhance outreach at low cost. In addition, stepping up monitoring and incentivizing hard working staff could help improve both deposit mobilization and loan recovery.

• (Journal Article) Youth savings groups in Africa: they’re a family affair

  01.09.2017
  Based on fieldwork in Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, and Ghana, in the paper we provide new evidence that young people’s engagement with savings groups in Africa is deeply embedded in networks of family and social relations. Savings group members rely on money that is given to them by partners and family members to make savings contributions to the groups, while they also transfer some of their share-outs and loans to family members and friends. This is particularly true for younger members. As such we argue that the socially embedded nature of young people's engagement with savings group needs to be taken into account. The tension between the primary focus on the individual within youth saving programming, and the socially embedded nature of their engagement, has important implications for programme design, implementation and evaluation.

• (Journal Article) Improving inclusion, competitiveness, and sustainability in midstream Honduran coffee chains

  01.12.2021
  This article presents a systematic comparison between conventional and ‘differentiated’ coffee value chains, paying attention to (micro and macro) economic performance and environmental outcomes at different midstream segments of the Honduran coffee value chains. Growth has been strong in the Honduran coffee sector, especially among coffee cooperatives and commercial enterprises devoted to the production of ‘differentiated’ coffees at premium prices. We rely on a systematic data inventory of input use, costs, and benefits of all agents involved at different midstream stages of the coffee value chains to compare their performance. We find that midstream integration is critical for yield and quality improvement of Honduran coffee. This can be reinforced through voluntary certification (mainly for organic produce) and branding. Moreover, upgrading of conventional coffee for sales at local and regional markets offers some promising prospects for inclusion and sustainability.

• (Journal Article) Social support and new venture initiation with resilience as a mediating factor

  01.09.2022
  The study empirically examined the link between social support and new venture initiation with resilience as a mediating factor. The study sought to determine the sources of social support influencing new venture initiation; the extent to which resilience influences new venture initiation; and whether resilience mediates the sources of social support influence on new venture initiation. These objectives were evaluated from a gender-based view. The study utilized the multi-group partial least square approach in testing the data collected from 327 trainees from the youth skill acquisition and entrepreneurship programme, designed for rural nascent entrepreneurs, organized by the Delta State Ministry of Youth Development. In line with the objectives, the study found that support from family and friends, but not significant other, influenced new venture initiation for men. While support from family, friends, and significant other influenced that of women. Resilience significantly influenced new venture initiation for men and women. Resilience mediated all the social support sources influence on new venture initiation for men and women.

• (Journal Article) Efficiency of additives and internal physical chemical factors for pit latrine lifetime extension

  01.07.2018
  Pit latrines are the most common form of on-site sanitation, but are blighted by the problem of pit fill-up. Little is known about what factors and conditions affect decomposition of pit content and thus govern pit filling, but the liquid–mass balance is the key factor. Under laboratory conditions the effect of inorganic and biological additives and the effect of physical chemical factors on solids hydrolysis of black water and human faeces were investigated to establish the potential of these to extend pit latrine lifetime. Additives did little or nothing to enhance net solids hydrolysis in batch tests or to reduce pit fill height in miniature simulated pit latrines. Physical chemical factors such as redox condition and initial pH increased solids hydrolysis, whereas temperature and substrate moisture did little. Since additives need contact with the substrate to act, measurements on faeces crust formation speed and strength were performed and showed that crusts formed within three hours and persisted after covering with fresh faeces or water.

• (Journal Article) Assessing high-profile public messaging for sanitation behaviour change: evidence from a mobile phone survey in India

  01.10.2020
  The UN Sustainable Development Goals call for the elimination of open defecation by 2030. Assessing global progress will require learning from India’s sanitation efforts because of its ambitious program of high-profile behavior change messaging to tackle open defecation, and because open defecation is widespread in India. In 2014, the Prime Minister announced a policy called the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), which aimed to eliminate open defecation by 2019. However, the 2015–16 National Family Health Survey –4 found that about 55% of rural and 11% of urban Indian households lack a toilet or latrine. To assess the extent of public awareness of the SBM, we use a mobile phone survey to ask about people’s knowledge of the existence and purpose of the SBM. We report representative estimates of awareness of the SBM among adults in Delhi (2016), Uttar Pradesh (2016), Mumbai (2016–17), Rajasthan (2016–17), Bihar (2018), Jharkhand (2018), and Maharashtra (2018). While much of the SBM’s activities took place in its last two years, we find that, at the time of the survey, no more than one-third of adults in any state are aware that the SBM intends to promote toilet and latrine use. Awareness was particularly low in Uttar Pradesh, where one in eight people who defecates in the open worldwide lives. While the SBM was very active in constructing latrines, the lack of awareness we find suggests that the SBM was less successful in raising the awareness required for large-scale behavior change in promoting latrine use.

• (Journal Article) Better together: improving food security and nutrition by linking market and food systems

  01.09.2019
  Market-based approaches to food security often increase agricultural productivity and income yet sometimes fail to enhance nutrition. When food security programming combines market and food systems with a specific focus on women and girls, economic and nutrition outcomes benefit. We identify distinctive and shared elements from market and food systems and highlight how they enhance nutrition outcomes when they are combined. We describe food security programming by CARE and World Vision in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, demonstrating nutrition gains in food insecure households.

• (Journal Article) Exploring the economic and environmental effects of food waste in Uruguayan households

  01.12.2022
  Food-waste reduction could provide significant benefits in the transition towards more sustainable agri-food systems. Households account for a significant share of total food waste, both in emerging and industrialized countries. In Latin America and the Caribbean region, lack of data has been acknowledged. The present study explores household food waste in Uruguay, an emerging country, through food-waste diaries. Data from 142 households provided an estimate of food-waste quantity and composition comparable to those reported in developed countries. The economic value of food wasted monthly represented 11 per cent of the average per capita food expenditure. In terms of environmental impact, the average carbon footprint of household food waste was 0.15 tonnes of CO2 per person per year. These results highlight the need to develop communication campaigns and interventions to raise awareness of the multiple impacts of household food waste in Uruguay.

• (Journal Article) Linkage between water, sanitation, hygiene, and child health in Bugesera District, Rwanda: a cross-sectional study

  01.01.2021
  Rwanda met the Millennium Development Goal targets for access to drinking water and sanitation. However, the WASH practices of high-risk communities are undocumented. Lack of information may hide disparities that correlate with disease. The purpose of this study was to assess WASH and childhood diarrhoea in Bugesera District. A survey was administered to caregivers. Water and stool samples were collected to assess physical and biological characteristics. Focus groups provided information on community context. Analysis included descriptive statistics, Chi-square,logistic regression, and thematic analysis.Piped water and unimproved sanitation were used by 45.28 per cent and 88.38 per cent of respondents. Most respondents (51.47 per cent) travelled 30–60 minutes per trip for water and 70 per cent lacked access to hand-washing near the latrine. Diarrhoea was less prevalent in children who used a toilet facility (p = 0.009). Disposal of faeces anywhere other than the toilet increased the odds of having diarrhoea (OR = 3.1, 95 per cent CI = 1.2–8.2). Use of a narrow mouth container for storage was associated with decreased intestinal parasites (p = 0.011). The presence of a hand-washing station within 10 metres of the toilet was associated with lower odds of intestinal parasites (OR = 0.54, 95 per cent CI: 0.29–0.99). Water and sanitation access, water handling and storage, and unsanitary household environment underlie high diarrhoeal disease prevalence.

• (Journal Article) Mobile money: a gateway to achieving financial inclusion in Ghana

  01.06.2022
  While emerging studies on mobile financial inclusion have focused on the factors driving the adoption of mobile money, little evidence exists on how the service is facilitating the use of formal financial services. Using the World Bank Findex data, we estimate the effect of mobile money adoption on the use of formal accounts, savings, and credit in Ghana. The results of the recursive bivariate probit analysis showed a significant symbiotic relationship between mobile money adoption and the probability of operating a formal account. Mobile money adoption has a positive effect on savings and access to credit but does not affect the avenues to savings and obtaining credit respectively. Mobile money users save in their wallet and obtain microcredit through the mobile money platform but not through formal channels. These findings reinforce the hypothesis that mobile money is the surest financial tool for achieving universal financial inclusion in developing countries.

• (Journal Article) Measurement of handwashing behaviour in Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and Demographic and Health Surveys, 1985–2008

  01.10.2015
  With this paper, we aim to describe handwashing worldwide, as measured in Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in low- and middle-income countries between 1985 and 2008, and to explain the strengths, weaknesses and evolution of this data collection to inform future survey development. We searched reports of DHS and MICS conducted before 2009 and analysed data on handwashing measurements. We examined data according to geographic region, as well as demographic characteristics such as wealth quintile, education of the household head, and rural/urban location. Before 2009, eight MICS and 40 DHS included handwashing-related measurements, using a variety of self-reports and rapid observations. Internal triangulation of findings from surveys that collected multiple types of measurement shows that self-reports to closed questions overestimate behaviour. Observation-based data suggest low handwashing rates in many low- and middle-income countries with high prevalence of water and sanitation-related diseases, and high inter- and intra-country disparities. However, due to the widely disparate nature of the pre-2009 handwashing-related measurements, much of the data cannot be compared between countries, and only an incomplete picture of global rates can be formed. Efforts to increase the prevalence of handwashing with soap and water need to be strengthened in many low- and middle-income countries, especially among poorer, rural populations and where the household head has less formal education. Closed questions asking for self-reports of handwashing behaviour should be avoided. Findings support instead the inclusion of uniform observation-based measurements, as were integrated as core modules of MICS and DHS in 2009.

• (Journal Article) Building resilience to crisis through digital financial services with a gender lens

  01.03.2022
  The vulnerability of populations with limited resources and either in or at risk of poverty to a myriad of crises continues to increase. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the inadequate resilience to crisis that such populations hold, and the rising prevalence of climatic variation is an existential risk factor that will continue to rise. In Mozambique, most livelihoods depend on natural resources and there is a high threat of extreme climate-related events. By drawing lessons from the Financial Services Deepening Mozambique (FSDMoç) programme, we highlight ways in which greater resilience has been built among fragile populations through innovative uses of digital financial services (DFS), and how resilience has been built with an explicit gender lens in order to mitigate existing inequalities. Lessons are drawn in relation to challenges faced and their application to wider programming.

• (Journal Article) The handpump choice is yours: a pilot study in Rumphi District, Malawi

  01.10.2017
  In sub-Saharan Africa, moving towards the Sustainable Development Goals will require an approach to water and sanitation service delivery for many rural communities where handpumps still dominate infrastructure. This paper reviews a case study of allowing users (local government and communities) in Rumphi District, Malawi, to choose a handpump model based on information about the life-cycle costs. The results indicate that there is some awareness within communities and within the local government of several handpump options for the rural water supply in the study area. Given a choice of different handpump models in the treatment communities, each community chose the rope pump. Allowing communities to choose the type of handpump model, with input from both local government and donors on low cost borehole drilling, should be considered as an innovative approach to rural water service delivery.