Demand Creation Africa

Demand-led programmes need to enhance the understanding of the motivations and constraints of households in order to adopt and improve their sanitation system (see also implementation tools) and sanitation delivery system. Therefore, these systems need to be understood as consumer goods (JENKINS & SUGDEN 2006). Consequently, approaches considering the constrained budgets and competing priorities of rural households (see also stakeholder interests) and the promotion of incremental improvements (sanitation ladder concept) gained increased interest.

There is little possibility in developing a demand creation package of employing a “one size fits all” approach to demand creation (see also demand creation general), given the spectrum of media environments ranging from urban South Africa to rural Tanzania. There is a division among: mass media, print materials (small media), text messaging, sanitation marketing and outreach/community mobilisation (see also invalid link and creating information material).

Print Media

Print media includes the following (see also invalid link): 

• Billboards placed in key markets and road stops
• Posters promoting the campaign and service sites (paper and plastic - for longer durability in wet climates)
• Flyers advertising a campaign or service sites
• Pop-up banners to use at outreach activities, launch events, and for the exteriors of service sites
• Informational brochures for men, women, and adolescents and their guardians depending on the sensitivity and context of information to be communicated

There are some constraints in the use of print media for mass communication. The cost of small media in developing economies can be prohibitive, depending on the size of the intended population. Billboards, for example, cannot lend themselves to communicating a lot of information on a complex topic. Moreover, they are generally not available in rural regions, which are the key areas without service and therefore most urgently require WaSH interventions. As an alternative, wall hangings can be put outside of shops. Programs that opt to use billboards can increase their effectiveness by including a link to service delivery, such as a helpline number.

Mass Media

In mass media, tools are used such as listener radio, television and targeted radio for rural communities broadcasting specific information related to the services provided in that area (e.g. the date and time when male circumcision services as a hygiene measure will be available at a particular location) (see also invalid link). The limitations of television include its inability to reach some rural areas and/or the risk of frequent electricity shutdowns, which is a major challenge in southern Africa. WaSH television campaigns can be useful and inexpensive if a news program does a feature or a talk show on the particular program and invites WaSH advocating staff to serve as guests. This television coverage comes at no expense to the WaSH program and increases its visibility

Radio is the primary mass media in the southern Africa Region. Typical WaSH campaigns can be produced for three radio spots (one targeting men, one targeting women, and one with general information). These are frequently aired in heavy rotation (at least eight times per day) on a regional or community radio station in facility catchment areas. Broadcasts of such spots usually begin one week before the campaign launches and run until two weeks before the end of the campaign. Additionally, radio talk shows featuring regional officials are often aired during the campaign period

Text Messaging

Print and mass media materials are used to promote a text messaging service. Short message service (SMS) is a form of text messaging often used to communicate ideas to the general public. The experience in the Iringa Region of Tanzania illustrates a potentially effective use of this medium. Although the Iringa Region is rural, many community members own cell phones. At a very low cost, the Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision (VMMC) program worked with the local phone provider to make a series of text messages available to the public. If, for example, a person texted “TOHARA” (“circumcision” in Swahili), he/she received two messages on the benefits of VMMC. Texting “WAPI” (“where” in Swahili) sent a message on where and at what times VMMC services would be available. For clients who were circumcised, texting “BAADA” (“after” in Swahili) triggered eight to ten messages over a six-week period, including messages on wound care, healing, and abstinence. At six weeks post-circumcision, men received a message that it was now permissible to have sex, but that they should use condoms and stick with one partner. These messages were all free of charge to the user. The phone company reported that the VMMC program had the largest number of users of any company that year.

Success in the male circumcision programme has also been realised using a combined approach: South African cell phone users were alerted to information on a website which they could then access with their cell phone. Also, follow-up reminders were delivered for men who opt to be circumcised.

Community Activities

There is frequent use of local interpersonal communication activities in demand creation for WaSH in Africa. This is established through participants receiving print material and training from stakeholders and partners from relevant organisations. The campaign teams conduct outreach visits to community leaders and groups, primary and secondary schools (see also school campaigns and empowering young people as promoters), and churches in the facility catchment areas. A direct transfer of knowledge is initiated leading to increased demand for the typical services and products that address this deficiency.

Sanitation marketing (see also invalid link) focuses on the demand and supply side of sanitation goods and services and offers possibilities to climb up the ladder towards more improved sanitation. At present, it has not yet been as widely applied in southern Africa as community led total sanitation (CLTS). Nevertheless, its potential to increase sanitation coverage is now acknowledged by many leading players in the development sector.

Studies on how to incorporate sanitation marketing in sanitation programmes have been conducted by major donor agencies (e.g. World Bank or USAID). In particular, interest in the potential to complement or even integrate CLTS and sanitation marketing programmes has evolved. However, so far, there are still few programmes based on a purposeful combination of the two approaches. The World Bank Water and Sanitation Program’s (WSP) Global Scaling Up Rural Sanitation Project is currently implementing the combination of total sanitation (TS) and sanitation marketing strategies with the purpose of creating effective and sustainable behaviour change at scale in three countries.

Sanitation marketing and community led total sanitation (CLTS) are relatively new demand-led approaches for sanitation promotion in southern Africa. So far, most WaSH interventions have been supply and subsidy driven rather than focused on demand and willingness to pay. Consequently, both reflect the increasing emphasis for understanding the household’s current sanitation behaviours and determinants for sanitation adoption or improvements in order to find the most appropriate combination of sanitation interventions. However, it has been recognised that changes in sanitation demand and behaviour will not be sustainable without an efficient supply side and, as a key factor, governmental and institutional arrangements that provide a supportive enabling environment (see also institutional framework and policies and legal framework and specific for Zambia: institutional setting Zambia and policies and legal framework Zambia).