Hygiene Improvement is a comprehensive approach to prevent childhood diarrhea through a combination of three elements: improving access to water and sanitation hardware and household technologies; promoting hygiene; and strengthening the enabling environment to ensure the sustainability of hygiene improvement activities.

The report, “Assessing Hygiene Improvement — Guidelines for Household and Community Levels,” provides current information about indicators and data collection instruments necessary to evaluate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene interventions. The Guidelines describe 66 indicators and propose approximately 360 model survey questions for measuring hygiene improvement comprehensively at the household and community levels, and at institutions such as schools and health facilities.

The purpose of the Guidelines is to help program planners and managers design, implement and evaluate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene interventions.

The Guidelines will help users, for example, conduct a situation analysis and needs assessment, develop a performance monitoring plan with indicators and data collection instruments, or establish a baseline for current hygiene practices and develop a behavior change and communications strategy. These guidelines and instruments are not intended as blueprints, but rather as a menu to choose from and adapt according to the field context and user’s needs.