To bring sustainable behavioural change in to the area of hygiene and sanitation, development actors in Ethiopia are using a variety of participatory approaches. These include Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), Community Dialogue, Whole System in a Room, and family dialogue “mikikir” in Amharic. Community-led approaches are thought to be effective because they foster locally driven collective action and have the power to leverage social pressure and social solidarity to make long-term decisions about important issues. In terms of hygiene and sanitation practice, it is the members of a community who will best know how to effect a long-term commitment to not defecating in the open, how to design and build latrines based on the community’s own natural and financial resources, and how to ensure that handwashing and safe water handling continue to be practiced.

Prior  to  certification,  an  independent, third-party  group  of  relevant stakeholders  must  visit  a  given  community  whether village, kebele, woreda, or an entire region to certify that the area in question is open defecation free (ODF), and that people are practicing handwashing and safe water handling.

This verification and certification guideline has been developed to harmonize approaches in field verification and to streamline the certification process for both government and non-government WASH actors

Download the verification and certification protocol