By 2016 the Government of Zambia aims to ensure that 60 per cent of the population has access to improved sanitation and that Zambia will be open defecation free (ODF) by 2020. To achieve those targets, with the support of UKAID, the government and UNICEF are promoting community-wide sanitation improvements through the 3 Million People Sanitation Programme, including: handwashing with soap or ash; safe water handling and use through treatment and safe storage; sanitation marketing to create the demand for toilets; and encouraging households to upgrade their sanitation facilities.
The programme is a component of the government’s National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (NRWSSP) and covers almost all of Zambia’s 92 rural districts. While it incorporates the latest evidence-based models of community mobilisation and behaviour change, one of its most innovative aspects is the mobile-to-web (M2W) real-time monitoring system.
While there is great enthusiasm for using digitalised methods for monitoring rural sanitation interventions, the process is still in its pilot phase in many countries and there exists relatively little evidence to inform national scale-up.
To address this gap in information, this Field Note reports on an efficient and effective sector-wide monitoring framework that is working at scale. It is part of the UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Sanitation and Hygiene Learning Series, designed to improve knowledge of best practice and lessons learnt in sanitation and hygiene programming across the region.
