Hydraulic ram pumps and Sling Pumps

Appendix: Advocacy Papers - IRC International Water and Sanitation CentreMaterials, whether posters or leaflets, must be carefully prepared andtested before being introduced. Mass or traditional media can beenlisted to support a new approach or to help change communitythinking, but first it is important to be clear about which media arepopular within a community and which have influence with thosepeople whose behaviour has been targeted. In most cases a TV dramaor a traditional play will succeed in delivering a message moreeffectively than a leaflet from a sanitation official. Detailed guidelinesare available on preparing messages for use in a community.Monitoring the success of work within a community is also importantand has a double benefit. It protects against failure, by allowing thecommunity and the sector to correct programmes that are going wrong.It also reinforces success, by providing materials that can be fed backto those who are supporting a community effort.Convincing the Sector and Convincing the WorldA key objective for the rest of the 90s is to change the way that thewater and sanitation sector is perceived nationally and internationally,to secure its proper share of resources and attention. To achieve this,the sector has to change its image from an industry mainly concernedwith hardware, to a movement concerned with people and their health,children and their growth, women and their welfare, families and theirenrichment. The sector must show that its main concern is meetinghuman need and solving human problems.This was one of the lessons which flowed from the successes andweaknesses of the Water and Sanitation Decade, and which must nowbecome part of the knowledge of the whole sector. Sector people mustshow that community orientation has reached every part of their work,so that they become leading advocates for its promotion. In this waythey take responsibility for convincing policy makers of the importanceof the sector to their plans, and for convincing communities of the needto share the responsibility for water and sanitation decisions.Of themselves, pumps, pipes, boreholes, and latrines have a limitedappeal outside the sector. However, health and the eradication ofdisease are of universal interest, and the water and sanitation sector isinvolved as deeply as the health sector in achieving these aims. Whenpeople learn that a community has removed a health risk, or thatwomen no longer have to walk ten kilometres to fill their waterbuckets, or that an urban community has begun to agitate to remove thesmell and filth of inadequate sewers, then they understand more clearlyhttp://www.irc.nl/page/6245 (9 of 10) [1/13/2005 12:47:34 PM]