42973 SOAPBOX 2003). A national Task Force has been established and started developing the business plan. USAID provided The PPP Handwashing technical assistance for the consumer research and private sector/social marketing expertise through EHP. Initiative Newsletter The research has just started here as well. July 2003 Learnings and products An interactive campaign design At the global level, an independent review of the whole initiative has been carried out. Results will be available Marketing experts from the three soap multinational soon. partners participated in an Accra-DC-London videoconference to review the Ghana handwashing The core partners also met in May to review progress campaign strategy. Participants, including the local and plan the coming six months' activities. They will Advertising agency, Handwashing team and their meet again in the October 2003, possibly in Lima, Peru, partners as well as global steering committee for a 2-day workshop for sharing experience. members, were very excited and felt the meeting was a As part of the training and toolkit package for the great success. This event was part of the interactive handwashing behavior study, the LSHTM produced a strategy design process and enhanced the partnership. standard structured observation format. The format is Similar meetings could easily be replicated at other currently being adapted to each country study. Did Val stages of the handwashing initiative and with other forward the qualitative research tools too? I sent drafts countries. to her from Ghana, she was going to forward them on? Finally, an economic analysis of benefits and costs of First cross-country workshop handwashing is being conducted in Central America (BASICS experience) and Peru, supported by our Participants from Peru, Senegal, Madagascar London World Bank health colleagues. The report should be and Washington participated in the first cross-country finalized by October 2003. sharing workshop in Accra in May. During the 4 day- long event, PPPHWI Coordinators received orientation "Handwashing's no joke!" on consumer research and M&E. They also discussed critical issues such as partnerships building, progress Jamal Saghir, the World Bank Director of Water and of the Initiative worldwide and lessons from Ghana. Energy and Jacques Baudouy, the Director of Health, This event was an invaluable opportunity to learn and published a joint-article on the PPPHWI on June 16, share along with cementing global interactions. All felt 2003. The article was posted on World Bank's external that similar workshops would be useful at later stages. and internal websites, raising awareness on the pivotal role of health and water professionals' collaboration to Field progress achieve health impact in developing countries. In Ghana, the advertising agency has refined the In May and June, the global team presented the communications strategy, and started developing the initiative at several key international events: at the final creative material following the completion of field- Global Health Council's Annual Conference in based concepts testing. The launch of the campaign is Washington; at the Conference on The Role of the re-scheduled for September 10th 2003. The Monitoring Private Sector in Poverty Reduction, organized by the and Evaluation study starts in July, with technical Norwegian/Finnish-Bank Trust Fund in Oslo; and at a assistance from the London School of Hygiene and visit to the World Water Council in France, the WWC Tropical Medicine. proposed to raise awareness at the highest level on the In Kerala, a decision to implement the project is importance of hygiene and handwashing, notably pending with the State Cabinet. through its networks including the next World Water In Peru, an executive committee and a consulting Forum. committee have been formed. USAID provided technical assistance for the design of the consumer News travel fast...Colleagues from the Bank and other study which commences this month. The team is very organizations are starting handwashing initiatives! In active on advocacy and public relations and has Madagascar, Réseau Eau, the NGO platform, started produced a booklet on the PPPHWI. Spanish speakers: the work with support from WSP-Dakar. It appointed a download "La Salud en tus Manos" on the Peru page! Coordinator who participated at the Ghana workshop. In Senegal, the Coordinator has formalized links with Rwanda and Indonesia teams have also expressed potential Steering Committee members from the public interest to develop handwashing campaigns in order to and private sectors and initiated innovative tactics to maximize the health impact of water and infrastructure raise funds. A study on the Senegalese soap market is projects. being finalized. The selected consulting firm is starting the consumer study; UNICEF has proposed to organize Handwashing advocates a workshop to share the study results in September We invite you to visit the following partners: 2003. ˇ WASH Campaign In China, the consumer research study proposed in ˇ World Water Council Anhui province has been postponed. Nepal: the $40,000 grant was released to UNICEF to To discover more, please visit the Country and execute the PPPHWI's initial phase (March-August Tools sections of our website http://www.globalhandwashing.org/