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Our BabyWASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) project with UNICEF aims to encourage safer feeding and playing spaces for children under the age of three by targeting the hygiene habits of their mothers and fathers. For instance, washing hands with soap, keeping faces and bodies clean, wearing shoes, preparing food safely and hygienically, ensuring children play in protected areas and safely disposing of children’s faeces can all help young children to grow up healthier and more safely.

Through a five-minute radio drama series and a radio magazine-style programme, we brought critical health information to life for parents. Our local community discussion groups created safe and engaging spaces for conversations to reinforce learning about better hygiene. We also created a mobile ‘toolkit’ for health extension workers, and trained them in delivering health information more effectively, to help maintain healthier hygiene and sanitation practices in communities across the country.

Our research showed that men who listened to our radio drama knew more about handwashing with soap before and after eating and were more likely than non-listeners to say they would wash their hands with soap before eating. And in the Amhara and Oromia regions findings confirmed our work has contributed to improved knowledge of sanitation and hygiene issues, and often led to the adoption of good practice. 

Project information