Guidance on Communication with respect to Safe Drinking Water and Household Hygiene Dr. James

Webster

Lecturer

Community Water & Sanitation

Cranfield University

Background• 13 years in E Africa managing &

capacity building rural water, sanitation & hygiene promotion programmes

• PhD in anthropology - the influence of culture on project outcomes

• 3 years consulting p-t

• Lecturer Community Water & Sanitation, Cranfield University

Cross-cultural clashes?

Problem: One household still uses river water 50m closer than a gravity scheme tapstand in spite of intensive participation and health/hygiene training

Cross-cultural clashes?

ExampleByaruhanga’s rainwater jar lies on its side whilst he continues to send his children to collect water from a distant spring

Change

Process

Change Agents

Water Users

Pre-change-process behaviour

Enters into

International donors

Government (local & national)

Implementing agency

All Stakeholders

IntendedOutcomes

Actual

Outcomes

Intended outcomes

Actual

outcomes

?Pro

motes

Typical stakeholder interactions

Cross-cultural perspectives

• Culture: “The values, beliefs and knowledge people use to generate and interpret social behaviour” (Webster, 2006)

• Concern for public self-image• Spirituality• Resistance to change• Individualism• Power distance • Masculinity • Uncertainty Avoidance• Hierarchy & inter-relations?

Cultural Dimensions Webster / Hofstede

• Concern for public self-image – an individual’s interest in how others perceive himself/herself, and how that perception is influenced (e.g. avoidance of negative self-image)

• Spirituality - the nature and degree of people’s beliefs and practices concerning … God, a god, gods, or a greater spiritual whole (inc. fatalism)

• Resistance to change - the degree society resists, or does not resist change, and promotes, or does not promote, long-term commitments and the perpetuation of traditional values

Cultural Dimensions - Cultural Dimensions - WebsterWebster

• Individualism (versus collectivism) – the degree society reinforces individual or collective achievement and interpersonal relationships

• Power distance – the degree of equality between people in the country's society (wealth and power)

• Masculinity (versus femininity) –the degree the society reinforces the traditional masculine work role model of male achievement, control, and power

• Uncertainty Avoidance - the level of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within the society - i.e. unstructured situations (versus rules-orientation)

Cultural Dimensions - Cultural Dimensions - Hofstede Hofstede

Others …• Abstract versus Associative thinking –

the former stressing logical cause-effect; the latter utilising links between events which may not have much logical basis (Kedia & Bhagat, 1988).

• Time – generally and sequence of past, present & future & preventive maintenance

• Communication: face-to-face versus through technology

• Space• Body language

Cross-cultural clashes - revisited

Main issues? StatusFunctional view of childrenMotivated to invest in the jar by active desire to either promote a positive or avoid a negative self-image. Prevented from seeing his children as having equal value by high power distance, masculinity and individualism.

ProblemByaruhanga’s rainwater jar lies on its side whilst he continues to send his children to collect water from a distant spring

• Major stakeholders must include water-users – how?

• Need to consider:– Explicit culture (such things as

law - what people talk about and can be specific about)

– Implicit culture (such things as feelings about water or success - what is taken for granted or what exists on the fringes of awareness)

Major stakeholders / needs / gaps