Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

Lack of access to water, sanitation, and hygiene is one of the most serious global problems. UNICEF and the World Health Organization estimate that 780 million people live without improved access to water, while approximately 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation (WHO, 2012). Lack of access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) contributes significantly to diarrheal disease, which is responsible for killing around 760,000 children per year (WHO, 2013).African boy drinking water from a pump

Effective research and evaluation of WASH issues are designed to improve people’s lives by helping communities, governments, and development agencies to implement robust programs that are associated with improved health and socio-economic outcomes.

Our Work

AIR’s deep history of experience evaluating WASH programs includes:

  • Process evaluation of the Zambia Compact Innovation Grant Program (IGP) for the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
  • Designing and implementing several mixed-methods impact and process evaluations of innovations in WASH that were awarded a grant under the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s IGP.
  • Conducting several randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies that include collecting and analyzing survey data with an emphasis on households’ behavior with respect to WASH.
  • Randomized controlled trial of Zambia’s social cash transfer program.
  • Quasi-experimental evaluation to determine the impact of BRAC’s Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Program in Bangladesh.

AIR’s cross-sectional approach to improving WASH outcomes is further illustrated by an evaluation of an education program in Liberia. Here we focused major attention to the adoption of WASH protocols during our research in the aftermath of the Ebola crisis.

Latest Work

9 Apr 2019
Spotlight

Improving Lives Through Cash Transfers

Cash transfer programs, growing around the globe since the mid-1990s, are a cost-effective way to improve the lives of poor households across many domains. Explore our work on cash transfers, programs that address poor households’ severe budget constraints and many investment needs ranging across education, health, household, and business.
Image of mother in Zambia with young child
3 Dec 2018
Q & A

A Quick Word With: Hannah Ring, Senior Researcher

The First 1000 Most Critical Days program was designed to provide women in Zambia with a host of maternal and infant health supports. In this Q&A, Hannah Ring provides insight into how the program worked and the challenges of bundling multiple interventions.
Image of two women in Zambia
17 May 2018
Spotlight

AIR in Zambia

Since 2001, AIR has been working in Zambia, conducting multi-method impact and process evaluations across many sectors such as health, WASH, social protection, early childhood development, nutrition, and education. Explore our projects and read about our regional office.
19 Nov 2015
Commentary

Toilet Use in Developing World Not a Simple Decision

The case for using toilets—less fecal pollution leads to better health—might seem self-evident, but 2.5 billion (according to United Nation’s estimates) of the world’s poorest still don’t have them. And it’s harder to press that case than might be imagined. After all, the causal link between fecal contamination and human health is a scientific fact while the decision to buy or use a toilet is governed more by such variables as cost, tradition, and culture than by science. When it comes to behavior change, effective outcomes depend wholly on recipients’ decision-making—a process that’s rarely understood, much less taken into account in project design.
Project

Performance Evaluation of Zambia’s Innovation Grant Program

Lusaka, Zambia faces many challenges with regard to water supply, sanitation, and waste management. This is especially true for residents of peri-urban areas, where many of the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people reside. The Millennium Challenge Account-Zambia supports the implementation of water supply, water quality, sanitation, and hygiene interventions under the Lusaka Water Supply Sanitation and Drainage Project.
Project

Zambia 1,000 Days: Evaluation of the “Tackling Maternal and Child Undernutrition in Zambia” Program

Large numbers of Zambian children suffer from nutrition-related disorders such as low birth weight, wasting, being underweight, chronic malnutrition, and various nutrient deficiencies. AIR and its partners are evaluating the First 1000 Most Critical Days Program, which addresses these issues by targeting households with pregnant women or children under two for maternal and child nutrition and health services.
Project

Building Parental Capacity to Improve Child Development in Bangladesh

Twenty-two percent of infants in Bangladesh have low birth weight, and 41% of children under age five have stunted growth; the majority of these children lack appropriate stimulation and early learning opportunities. This project evaluates the Save the Children Early Childhood Stimulation Program, which targets very poor, rural families with young children in Bangladesh.
Project

Education and Health in Haiti: Programme Haitien d’Appui à la Réforme de l’Education (PHARE)

The Programme Haitien d’Appui à la Réforme de l’Education (PHARE) in Haiti is a USAID-funded, deliverables-based contract with AIR. PHARE is USAID's response to the Government of Haiti’s effort to restore, sustain, and expand education and health services. PHARE's main objective is to reinforce the capacity of the Ministry of Education and Professional Training (MENFP) to plan, deliver, monitor, and evaluate educational services in public and non-public schools.