Applying Evidence to Policy and Practice in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: Findings and Implications of the USAID Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) Project

WASHPaLS was a 5-year USAID project (2016 to 2022) designed to generate and disseminate evidence in WASH, with a focus on rural sanitation and hygiene.
This presentation provides top-line findings of WASHPaLS project across three primary research areas:
- Learning how to improve interventions intended to elevate demand for improved sanitation (e.g. CLTS).
- Understanding how to increase the capacity of markets to deliver onsite sanitation products and services to underserved populations.
- Investigating the opportunities to create hygienic home environments – reducing disease risks to infants and young children from exposure to animal excreta in home environments where domestic animal husbandry takes place.

Facts Only

WASHPaLS was a 5-year USAID project conducted between 2016 and 2022.
The project focused on generating and disseminating evidence in WASH, with an emphasis on rural sanitation and hygiene.
Research areas included learning methods to improve interventions that raise demand for improved sanitation, such as CLTS.
Research areas included understanding how to increase market capacity for delivering onsite sanitation products and services to underserved populations.
Research areas included investigating opportunities to create hygienic home environments by reducing disease risks from animal excreta exposure in areas with domestic animal husbandry.

Executive Summary

The WASHPaLS project was a five-year USAID initiative running from 2016 to 2022, focused on generating and disseminating evidence within Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), specifically targeting rural sanitation and hygiene practices. The research addressed three main areas: improving interventions to increase demand for improved sanitation, enhancing market capacity for providing onsite sanitation products and services in underserved areas, and investigating methods to create hygienic home environments by reducing disease risks from animal excreta exposure during domestic animal husbandry.

Full Take

The project's structure reveals an integrated approach addressing the full spectrum of WASH challenges—from behavioral change (demand generation) to economic feasibility (market capacity) and environmental health outcomes (disease reduction). The focus on rural sanitation suggests an underlying tension between localized, community-based solutions and large-scale, externally funded intervention mechanisms. Examining the three areas simultaneously forces a confrontation with which solutions are prioritized: is the immediate goal behavioral change, economic access, or environmental control? The pattern implies that successful WASH delivery requires simultaneous consideration of social learning, infrastructural economics, and domestic ecological health. The implication for future work is ensuring that funding streams support the translation of high-level evidence into practical, context-specific capacities across these interconnected domains, rather than isolating them into separate research silos. What mechanisms govern the transition from 'learning' (improving interventions) to 'delivery' (market capacity) and finally to tangible outcomes (hygienic homes)?

Applying Evidence to Policy and Practice in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: Findings and Implications of the USAID Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) Project

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