As sanitation and hygiene programmes mature, the challenge shifts from bringing communities to ODF status to sustaining this status. In this context, many programmes are confronted with the issue of slippage. This concept refers to a return to previous unhygienic behaviours, or the inability of some or all community members to continue to meet all ODF criteria. This paper explores how to discern slippage nuances and patterns, strategies to address, pre-empt and mitigate it as well as alternative monitoring systems that capture the complexity of slippage more fully. The analysis and reflections are based on direct field experience, primarily from the GSF-supported programme in Madagascar. Moreover, the underpinning principle of the paper is that slippage is an expected aspect of behaviour change-oriented sanitation and hygiene interventions, especially those at scale, and not a sign of failure thereof.
- A common trend seems to be that the more often interventions are repeated and follow-up support is provided, the less dramatic the slippage will be, until eventually the community reaches behaviour change maturity.
- Communities that demonstrate the open defecation free state of mind are more prone to steadily advance towards maturity than a community that displays a superficial internalization of open defecation free.
- Slippage depends on factors internal to the community as well as external factors over which communities have little or no influence.
- Slippage should not be considered nor monitored as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ matter, but rather as a sliding scale, and not at one-off events but periodically.
- In order for monitoring frameworks to fully capture the intricacies of slippage, they need to be flexible and appropriate for the dynamic and fast-paced nature of behaviour change.
- In assessing slippage, external verifiers far too often rely on visual indicators only, without incorporating qualitative community perceptions and quantitative health impacts. To ensure all of these aspects are incorporated, three open defecation free verification pillars can be used: visual indicators, community perceptions, and health impact data.
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- Copyright 2016 Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).