"The Blue Star" Water and Sanititization Communication Campaign

Project Dates:

• Overview
• Campaign Results
• Attitude Survey
• Evaluation of Activities
• Community Mobilization
• Mass Media

Overview

The "Blue Star" campaign was a culmination of a year of close collaboration between USAID's Environmental Health Project (EHP) and the Johns Hopkins University/Population Communication Services (JHU/PCS) and many local NGOs. The "Blue Star" effort was one of the most comprehensive diarrhea prevention programs undertaken at the national level. Focusing on blocking the main pathways of diarrheal disease transmission, under the "Blue Star" effort, a number of interdependent components are working synergistically to provide the infrastructure, behavior change communication and participation of communities and local NGOs necessary for the realization of an effective diarrheal prevention program.

The Water and Sanitation component is a crucial piece of USAID's Nicaragua Hurricane Mitch Recovery Project. Under this component EHP is responsible for the construction and repair of community water and sanitation infrastructure and JHU/CCP is responsible for the behavior change communication for better hygiene and sanitation practices. Together EHP and JHU/PCS were able to forge a coalition of PVOs and NGOs to implement a project with ultimate goal of reducing the incidence of diarrheal diseases in the areas affected by hurricane Mitch.

Campaign Results

A battery of questions were included in the 1998 Nicaraguan DHS to measure exposure to the campaign, assess understanding of the messages, and gauge actions taken in response to the campaign. Exposure to the campaign and its logo were high, with 69% to 73% of the intended audience recognizing the campaign logo and 69% to 71% having heard the campaign slogan. These numbers were also relatively high among non-intended audience members.

Campaign impact can also be shown in the actions taken by audience members. Of those interviewed, as a result of exposure to the campaign 83% of males and 89% of females reported talking with someone about the campaign messages.

For singles, the most common responses of actions taken after "talking to someone", were to:

1. avoid pregnancy;

2. delay union;

3. avoid sex; and

4. discuss FP with partner. These related very closely to the objectives of increasing knowledge of the benefits of postponing first pregnancy and avoiding sexual activity in consensual unions.

For ever-married respondents, the most common responses after "talking to someone" were to:

1. avoid pregnancy; and

2. discuss FP with partner. The responses "delay union" and "avoid sex" accounted for only 5% or less percent of respondents. Again the responses for this group related to the specific audience objectives: increase knowledge of the benefits of birth spacing; increasing the use of reproductive health services, including family planning and pre and post natal care, and increase the number of users of temporary family planning methods.