Global Handwashing Day 2018
by Phearak Svay
October 15 marks a very important but under-recognized life saver! Global Handwashing Day is dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of washing our hands with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.
To celebrate and champion the importance of handwashing, Asia P3 Hub took part in a couple of exciting events emphasizing the value of this simple task.
People are at the heart of the process
Together with our partner Kohler Company, we co-facilitated a Human-Centered Design (HCD) workshop with World Vision Philippines and partners in Manila from 8–9 October 2018.
Developed by IDEO.org, Human-Centered Design is a process that starts with the people you’re designing a solution for and ends with new solutions that are tailor-made to suit their needs. The problem owner (i.e., in our case, the community) is involved in the HCD process. Employing this multi-stakeholder approach reinforces the principle that everyone has something to contribute in the process. More appropriate and creative insights are generated, followed by prototyping and solution testing. This process well represents the theory of community development where the community is at the centre of consideration and is in the driver’s seat to play an essential role in the decision-making process that affects them most. The workshop was led by James Bourne, a Kohler Company design engineer, with support from the Asia P3 Hub team.
The workshop objective was to provide participants with the principles of HCD and how to apply them to any design challenge they face. James led them through the methods and techniques to frame a design challenge and develop creative solutions. It was a huge success! “HCD allows us to shift the decision-making power,” shared one participant. “As we navigate the critical steps, we all were able to participate and own the outcome.” The HCD approach is not a common practice in the non-profit sector, though the thought process is similar to some community development project design tools. Reflecting on the workshop, another participant said, “I realized we cannot continue making decisions that are out of touch with the realities of the people in communities. More than the quantitative empirical data that we use as the basis in defining our interventions, we need to know what truly matters to the people in the community; we need to know their ambitions, aspirations and dreams, and then work together to pursue them.”
Handwashing Behaviour Change Think Tank
The HCD workshop was followed by the invitation-only event, the 2018 Handwashing Behavior Change Think Tank (HWTT), from 10–12 October in Manila. Hosted by Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) and Procter and Gamble, this event is designed to address challenges to handwashing behavior change in the Philippines and throughout the region . The hugely successful event welcomed 64 participants from various agencies, sectors and industries, including our field partners from World Vision Philippines and Wahana Visi Indonesia. The objectives of the event included facilitating collaboration among stakeholders working in hygiene, exchanging experiences and learning across diverse perspectives and approaches, and co-developing solutions to advance the ‘state of the art’ in handwashing behavior change.
A big shout out as well to the GHP for their leadership in hygiene, openness to bring together dynamic stakeholders and explore new ways to partner for positive behavior change with a wide array of stakeholders. Kohler, in partnership with Splash and Wahana Visi Indonesia, co-facilitated a session on designing a better handwashing facility, primarily drawing on the experience of our joint work in Indonesia. Asia P3 Hub presented our vision and mission for partnerships and collaboration, and some of our multi-sector initiatives in Asia Pacific. Another World Vision International colleague from our Global Centre shared some key lessons that came out of an in-depth evaluation on WASH programming impact conducted by the University of North Carolina. Covering 14 countries in Africa, it provided some clear areas for improvement for all of us engaged in community development. We are thankful our colleague was willing to be transparent and have the courage to share important lessons and things we need to do better — she urged all participants, including those of us from World Vision, to continue to put the people in communities at the centre of our work and collaborate more strategically to achieve greater outcomes. One of our field colleagues commented, “much has been done to address hygiene issues; the challenge for all stakeholders is to ensure that we take note of the lessons learned so these can be actioned, with improved interventions scaled up and replicated in countries where help is much needed.”
The HCD workshop and Think Tank engagement with Kohler builds on a previous collaboration facilitated by Asia P3 Hub, sending James to remote Flores Island, Indonesia with Wahana Visi Indonesia, where he spent February to April 2018 to work with Wahana Visi team, a local school, local government, and the community to co-design a handwashing station using the HCD process. We value the different ways we are partnering with Kohler, leveraging this trusted global partnership in new, creative ways in Asia.
Asia P3 Hub is delighted to not only participate but play a role to encourage multi-sector collaboration in events such as these. And we loved celebrating Global Handwashing Day in the Philippines! Another reason why? The Philippines composes songs to wash by — take a look & listen!
Article was written by Phearak Svay, Asia P3 Hub’s Senior WASH & Partnership Advisor.
Phearak has been in the NGO sector for over 25 years. He builds and manages partnerships with corporates, startups, investors, academia and non-profit organisations to address water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) issues in Asia Pacific. Before joining Asia P3 Hub, he worked for Save Children Australia (SCA) where he managed programs across Health, Education and Child Protection in South Asia and Africa. Prior to that, he spent 12 years with World Vision in Australia where he managed and led a portfolio of various programs in diverse thematic areas across Asia.
Phearak also has extensive experience in managing numerous WASH projects throughout the Asia Pacific region, including managing a US$12M WASH Program for World Vision Australia across three countries in three regions. He holds a Masters degree in Integrated Water Management from the University of Queensland, Australia and Bachelors in Education from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He currently serves as Director of the International Water Centre Alumni Network (IWCAN) Board.
