By Alena Sims, Communications Associate, Malaria & Child Survival, PSI
PSI Vietnam, with support from Camilla Hagen Sorli and the Maverick Collective, is implementing a three-year intervention designed to improve the health and empowerment of women and girls in rural Vietnam. The project aims to increase use of hygienic sanitation among low-income families in two rural provinces, Dak Nong and Tien Giang, through an innovative approach aligned with the 4 ‘Ps’ of marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion.
The project has had an eventful first year of implementation in 2016 filled with meaningful achievements. The team gained significant momentum through scaled up partnerships with the ROTO tank manufacturer, rural retailers and masons as well as placement of the TOT (“GOOD”) toilet campaign. As a result, PSI Vietnam sold 524 ROTO plastic septic tanks, trained 381 masons (352 in Tien Giang, 29 in Dak Nong), and established 30 ROTO retailers since the project launched (based on October data).
The TOT (“GOOD”) toilet campaign is a multi-channel behavior change communication campaign for “good” toilets meeting quality and gender standards. The campaign positions toilets as a way for men to support their wives’ privacy and dignity, and for women to create homes they can be proud to share with visitors.
PSI experimented with a number of innovative approaches to engage rural households, including TOT product shows, interactive cell-phone messaging and a simple TOT how-to video. By October 2016, the video received 1,799 viewers, the majority being males between the ages of 25-34. 64% accessed the video by smartphone.
Following market feedback indicating that some rural consumers are unable to pay commercial prices negotiated by PSI with ROTO and rural retailers, PSI designed a pilot to incentivize three active sanitation retailers in Tien Giang to provide flexible payment terms to select households identified by PSI and the DOH.
A new campaign to motivate grandparents to build toilets is one of the upcoming advancements to transform rural women and girls’ sanitation in Vietnam.
Ut and her husband Duong with their granddaughter in front of the pit they are digging for their ROTO toilet. This family of rice farmers in Tien Giang is one of the first families to benefit from flexible financing provided by sanitation retailers affiliated with PSI. This family heard about the ROTO tank benefits from their neighbors who had attended a TOT sales seminar in March 2016, but were only able to commit to building a toilet (pit in the background of this picture) after learning about the ability to pay in monthly installments.
