One rule that should never be broken in research: TELL THE PEOPLE! After two years of research, WASHTED team together with partners from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (on 24 January 2025); successfully shared WASH For Everyone (W4E) research project findings with Chiradzulu District Council stakeholders.
This one-day event held at Bliss and Honey lodge brought together project stakeholders including the WASH For Everyone implementing partners – Word Vision and Water For People – along with delegates from the district council including the District Commissioner, Director of Planning and Development ,Traditional Authorities and Area Development Committees.
With presentations, world café, question and answer sessions largely conducted in the local language (Chichewa) offered more of results validation and future planning session. Specifically, the research findings questioned the role of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in improving access to basic sanitation facilities, effects of climate change events on sanitation and hygiene and the cost benefit analysis of CLTS interventions.
The research findings made it clear that the current CLTS implementation approach is not fully contributing to ending the long-standing sanitation challenges in Malawi, worsened by consequences of extreme weather events, thus challenging actors in sanitation and hygiene to explore alternative strategies. The stakeholders showed interest in developing guidelines for improving CLTS implementation and intensifying sanitation marketing approaches to address the prevailing issues about sanitation and hygiene promotion. The event demonstrated the importance of involving local leaders in decision making process on matters directly affecting local communities.
