WASH Tweaks

WASH Tweaks is our flagship programme to make WASH infrastructure and programmes more suitable for users.

The Problem

Our research has found that on average 40% of women and girls are not using the latrines provided.

From our field experience we see that agencies are failing to properly consult or collect and act on feedback from the users of the latrines they build, leading many people – especially women and girls – to stop using those latrines as they find them inaccessible, unsuitable and/or unsafe. Consequently, this increases public health risks in emergency situations. This is documented in our report ‘Different Responses, Same Old Shit’.

Our Solution

To address this, the Oxfam WASH team launched Sani Tweaks, and now WASH tweaks. The premise of Sani Tweaks is that sanitation should be a service, not a one off installation, and that through continuous consultation ‘tweaks’ can be made to make infrastructure and programs more suitable for users. The motto of WASH Tweaks is:

The WASH Tweaks roadshow is an in-person or online interactive inter-agency workshop, where WASH practitioners put themselves in the shoes of users to better understand their needs; are encouraged to use a consult -> modify -> consult approach; and adapt their programmes to make tweaks based on user feedback.

For those who cannot attend a workshop, we have a self-paced e-learning course. You can access this by creating an account on Disaster Ready and searching for “Sani Tweaks”.

We would also encourag you to use the Sani Tweaks checklist in all your sanitaiton programmes. These are Oxfam’s minimum requirements for sanitation. The aim is that they should be used as widely as possible, and you are free to change them in any way, including adapting to the context, the addition of new logos, colours, or wording.

Other resources include WASH Tweaks and Sani Tweaks videos, and a booklet (below).