Submission ID 131564
| Issue/Objective | Access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) is essential for the health, dignity, and wellbeing of all people and must be a priority in healthcare facilities. Women are especially affected, as they are often the primary users and providers of health services. However, there are no validated measurement tools to diagnose and evaluate equity, equality and empowerment (EEE) in relation to WASH in institutional settings for staff and clients. |
|---|---|
| Methodology/Approach | Drawing on validated quantitative measures, the Institutional - Gender Equality Measures (IN-GEM) includes eight modules with Likert-scale questions. It focuses on both women and men and covers aspects of EEE in WASH. The tool was piloted in healthcare facilities in Liberia, Pakistan and Zambia as part of baseline studies for WaterAid's SWISH (Strengthening Wholistic and Inclusive Systems for Health) project. To ensure that the tools are context-driven, WaterAid teams have 1) co-designed the eight modules for comparable yet contextual relevance, 2) co-designed visualization techniques, and 3) conducted sensemaking workshops . |
| Results | Baseline piloting of the IN-GEM in healthcare facilities has highlighted its potential to help diagnose contexts, adapt interventions and will later evaluate change for staff and clients (when applied at project midline and endline). The modules were validated using robust yet practical statistical processes. The validation process ensured that the modules hold relevance with typical project theories of change with healthcare facility staff and clients. The co-designed visualisations and sensemaking workshops have aimed to support the uptake and use of the results by the project teams, but also for the healthcare facility and health systems actors. These experiences are informing ongoing refinement of the tool within the SWISH project and will be presented by project implementers from each country. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | By building on well-established tools and aligning with existing monitoring and evaluation systems, the IN-GEM offers a feasible and validated approach to generating actionable data on EEE and WASH in healthcare facilities. Lessons from the SWISH pilots will help strengthen the tool for broader use across WaterAid's programs and support efforts to better understand and address the synergies between WASH and EEE in health institutional contexts. |
| Presenters and Affiliations | Sara Marshall WaterAid Canada Tsitsi Fungurani WaterAid Southern Africa Regional Office Jess MacArthur University Technology Sydney and Independent Consultant Christopher Marsh WaterAid Liberia Nelly Munge WaterAid UK Priya Nath WaterAid UK Saima Sadaf WaterAid Pakistan Mulemwa Sharon Simushi WaterAid Zambia |
