Nudge Handwashing Project Wins First Place

First place in the Civil Society Innovation Award at the WASH Futures Conference in Brisbane, Australia was awarded to a handwashing project designed and implemented by Save the Children, WaTER Center Assistant Director Dr. Robert Dreibelbis at the the University of Oklahoma, and the University at Buffalo, This project makes use of nudges - environmental cues that spark quick, unconscious decision-making, by connecting latrines to handwashing stations via paved pathways painted with bright colors, footprints and handprints, subtly guiding students to a handwashing station. The feasibility for nudge-based interventions was assessed in a pilot in 2014 of nudges in two schools in rural Bangladesh, showing an overall increase of 64% in handwashing among primary school students after a toileting event. The nudge path concept is currently under further study in a cluster-randomized trial to assess the longer term sustainability of the intervention as well as the behavioral impact of nudges compared to a traditional education-focused handwashing and hygiene promotion program, the results of which will be available in the fall of 2016.