Ending open defecation and promoting use of toilets or latrines has been a focus of behaviour change research for years. Behaviour change about other parts of the sanitation chain is often neglected.
Funded by Asian Development Bank and in collaboration with Action Against Hunger and the City of Baguio, Philippines, RANAS developed a city-wide campaign for Baguio, to promote regular desludging of septic tanks.
We identified perceptions of health benefits, social norms, and planning when, where, and how to desludge being relevant drivers of desludging. Accordingly, the behaviour change campaign focuses on these behavioural factors and includes community and expert discussions of benefits and available services, information about other’s approval and public pledges, and a planning activity in which household members plan and commit to regular desludge their septic tank.
In addition to the behviour change campaign, we developed a detailed action plan including implementation, capacity engagement and monitoring of the project activities. The project has been completed in November 2023.
