Any programme that is promoting behaviour change needs to have a process for assessing how effective it is – in other words, a monitoring and evaluation process. Latrine utilisation promotion and other WASH projects therefore need to include monitoring and evaluation activities. This means setting specific, measurable and achievable objectives, and clearly stating the monitoring activities and indicators to be used.

There is an important preliminary step which is to gather baseline data of the situation before the intervention for comparison with the data gathered by the monitoring activities. The same indicators should be used both before and after so you can compare like with like. Important measurable indicators for latrine use and handwashing include:

• no visible human excreta in likely sites
• percentage of households that have a latrine and which is seen to be in use
• percentage of latrines with no faeces and urine soiling on walls and floors
• presence of handwashing facility and water near the latrine
• presence of soap, ash or other cleaning agent near latrine
• percentage of communities/villages certified as ODF
• percentage of households that have upgraded their latrine to an improved system
• percentage of households with clean compounds without any excreta.

A sample checklist for these indicators is shown in Box 21.5.

Box 21.5  Sample checklist for latrine utilisation