USAID IUWASH PLUS in collaboration with Bappenas and the Ministry of Health conducted a workshop on the development of WASH behavior change and marketing strategies in Jakarta from January 18–19, 2018. This workshop aimed to exchange information related to the current WASH condition, especially in urban areas, and to present the key findings of the Formative Research and the behavior change and marketing strategies with all parties, especially the stakeholders of WASH sector in Indonesia.
The workshop was attended by 98 participants from Bappenas, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Ministry of Health, provincial Bappedas, provincial and district/city Health Offices, the Bekasi City Regional Technical Implementing Unit of Wastewater Treatment Plant (UPTD PAL), non-governmental organizations, donors, and private companies.
In her opening remarks, Tri Virgiyanti, the Director for Urban, Housing and Settlement of Bappenas explained the reasons why the behavioral change communication strategy is necessary. “To change people’s behavior, we need to know the cultural context of the community and must be able to build public awareness. Supporting data such as those resulted from the Formative Research carried out by USAID IUWASH PLUS will be helpful in formulating strategies to build public awareness,” she said.
During the workshop, the participants shared and discussed the approaches to WASH behavior change in urban contexts in Indonesia, process to develop behavior change interventions, process to design behavior change, and the results of formative research carried out by USAID IUWASH PLUS. The participants also learned about the results of water quality survey in Yogyakarta and ODF sustainability study, the health advocacy through a series of communication activities to influence policy makers, and the IBM Framework.
The participants involved actively in each discussion and learned valuable lessons from the workshop. The results of this workshop will be used to develop the WASH Behavior Change and Marketing Strategies.
