Online course: Using ethical images in the WASH sector

Course aims

To equip individuals and organisations to take respectful, ethical photos that represent the complex realities of WASH issues.

Who should attend?

Practitioners working in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene who are interested in using photos in their communications, research or advocacy work.

This may include researchers, communications officers, programme managers, funders, monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) specialists and others.

How you will learn

You’ll learn through a mixture of presentations, group discussion and individual homework tasks.

The homework will include taking photos on chosen themes (you can see some examples from the previous course in this blog). We will draw on the Photovoice method and structure our live sessions around “photo dialogues” where we will explore the photos taken.

The course will include:

• a grounding in visual literacy – how photos can be ‘read’ and interpreted as positive and negative
• the importance of caption-writing
• an exploration of GEDSI (gender equality, disability and social inclusion) principles.

We will also provide a reading list, workbook with accompanying exercises, and facilitation notes so you can cascade the learning to your colleagues.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, participants will:

• Recognise the value and have deeper insight into imagery (photographs in particular) as an important medium for equity and inclusion in WASH.
• Have strengthened skills to take WASH-related photos that ‘do no harm’, with the potential to support and amplify the agency of marginalised people and communities.
• Be equipped to adapt and replicate this training with their colleagues.

Participant testimonial

We have invited one of our participants, Alpha Ntayomba from Population Development Initiative, to share his reflections, along with an example photos and caption he produced during the trial course we delivered in July 2023. (You can see more examples in our recent blog: The ethics of using photos in the WASH sector)

‘It was an amazing opportunity to learn how we may advance our water and sanitation advocacy services in Kigoma region, Tanzania through visual communications. I had a chance to learn with colleagues from other countries effective and professional visual communication which may receive larger audiences and influence actions from duty bearers. I was impressed the interactions and sharing our photos followed by constructive comments from trainers and colleagues which played a vital role in the way we take and use our photos for learning, sharing our work or advocacy.

I shared the lessons with my colleagues at PDI especially the Advocacy and Communications Unit which now utilise the skills and knowledge gained in our pilot programs of promoting responsible mining among mining communities in Geita District, Tanzania and Social Accountability Monitoring for improved water and sanitation services in Kigoma-Ujiji municipality in Tanzania.

We are grateful to Sanitation Learning Hub for this learning opportunity which added value in the way we use visual communications for our advocacy work.’

By Alpha Ntayomba, Population Development Initiative
Theme: Your favourite colour
Title: A home garden for nutrition and income generation at Katubuka Street in Kigoma town, Tanzania.
Caption: Green is my colour. Professionally I am a forester. I like forestry and the environment. When I took this I was thinking about what the environment can bring, generating income for people, being a source of economic activities. It’s true that there is no water scarcity here. Beyond those coconut trees in the background there is a pond. Previously there were sanitation campaigns because people were defecating there by the pond. But when the government and agents of change came together, people changed their behaviour and stopped going to the pond to defecate. So, different intervention campaigns stopped open defecation in this area. The photo is about the environment and what people can get from the environment, but also about how people can work together to change behaviour.

Course facilitators

Our course facilitators for “Using ethical images in the WASH sector” are Alice Webb and Ruhil Iyer from the Sanitation Learning Hub.

Alice Webb is an experienced communications and knowledge professional with a strong interest in participatory methods. She has provided the Sanitation Learning Hub with strategic communications support for four years. She is a trained Photovoice facilitator and has a wealth of experience in designing and running training sessions for IDS projects.

Ruhil Iyer is an experienced researcher specialising in sanitation and hygiene and participatory approaches. She has led the Sanitation Learning Hub’s work on climate change and written extensively on inclusion within WASH programmes. Together Alice and Ruhil have a wealth of subject knowledge and a deep understanding of the principles behind communicating difficult topics in a respectful and ethical manner.

Ruhil and Alice would like to thank Elaine Mercer who was instrumental in the design of the course and the delivery of our trail version in July 2023.