Somali PHAST step-by-step guide

This guide is designed for use by facilitators and community workers as a methodology for community hygiene behaviour change as part of a larger water and sanitation programme or project. The steps described in the guide, together with the drawings, offer the tools to launch a comprehensive hygiene and sanitation promotion programme. It is stressed that the guide only should be used by those who have been trained in the PHAST methodology.

In particular, this guide provides: an approach for changing hygiene behaviour; a participatory approach for empowering communities to eliminate water and sanitation related diseases; methods that can lead to community management of water and sanitation facilities; knowledge and practical skills in the use of participatory hygiene education tools; knowledge and practical skills that enable evaluation of behaviour change in hygiene, sanitation and water interventions using participatory methods.

The guide has seven steps. The first five are to take the community through the process of developing a plan to prevent diarrhoeal diseases by improving water supply, hygiene behaviours and sanitation. The sixth and seventh steps involve monitoring and evaluation, to see if the plan has been successfully implemented or effective. Each step contains between 1 to 6 activities. Instructions on how to facilitate each activity are provided.

The PHAST tools have been adapted to the local social and cultural environment, including illustrations of typical Somali settings and role-plays linking development with H&S issues. PHAST posters have been specially designed for the Somali setting by the skilled local artists. Caritas experiences have shown that PHAST methodology can be easily replicated for the Somalia context.

The guide is available in Somali and English. The CDROM accompanying this manual includes a set of drawings with illustrations of typical Somali settings. The English version is only available on CD.

This Somali PHAST Step-by-Step Guide is modelled on the World Health Organisation PHAST Step-by-Step guide. (Simpson-Hebert, M.; Sawyer, R. and Wood, S. (1998). PHAST step-by-step guide : a participatory approach for the control of diarrhoeal disease. (Participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation (PHAST); no. 2). World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland.)