Programme Saniya

Programme Saniya was designed as a hygiene promotion programme for Burkina Faso's second city, Bobo-Dioulasso, and was carried out between August 1995 and July 1998.

The activities of the programme were based on extensive formative research, a process of study in the community to find locally-specific answers to key programme design questions, such as the choice of target behaviours and audiences.

For instance, on finding that mothers desired hygiene more for aesthetic than for health reasons, messages were built around the concept of quality of life and the respect that one gets from being seen as 'hygienic'. Effective communication channels were identified using focus groups and a questionnaire.

Monitoring showed the programme was cost-effective and brought about measurable behaviour change.

The Hygiene Centre's experience in Burkina Faso shows that understanding how people actually behave is the key to initiating change.

Many of the journal articles given in the publications list under Hygiene and Hand washing give further information about Programme Saniya.