In outbreaks and crises, implementing organizations are often under pressure to act quickly and begin project implementation right away. Sometimes this urgency results in choices that compromise the way projects are designed and implemented with potential negative effects on the acceptability, effectiveness and sustainability of projects. In this resource we provide general suggestions for the designing hygiene behaviour change projects that can serve as a template for local adaptation and customization. . We also outline the things that may need to be adapted given the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this resource is to provide general guidance on the process of hygiene behaviour change intervention development. The image below visually depicts a process for designing hygiene promotion projects with three simple steps. Each step is described in detail below.

Source: Sian White

We developed this resource primarily based on evidence and experiences related to handwashing project design. However the process we describe is just as applicable to other COVID-19 preventative behaviours such as physical distancing behaviours and mask use.

The process above aligns with various behaviour change models and frameworks that describe a process for designing behaviour change interventions. For more information on these stages we suggest some of the following resources:

Author: Sian White

Reviewers: Peter Winch, Nadja Contzen, Dr Om Prasad Gautam,
Last update: 10.06.2020