Clean up your act : development theatre for water and sanitation

The experience of the Rural Domestic Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RDWSSP) in Western Kenya shows that theatre is a more effective medium than word of mouth for spreading news about the benefits of better hygiene practices. The objective of the project is to construct 1000 water points and a large number of latrines through community participation. The pilot project, launched in April-May 1994, set out to asses whether "theatre for development" would be a realistic, cost-effective way of boosting hygiene training. This article outlines the approach of two theatre groups and summarizes the impact on the audience and the effectiveness of drama to get the ten specific water and sanitation messages of the project across. The ten messages are presented in a box in the article. There were some criticisms about the portrayal of women in some of the performances. Despite some of the limitations of this method, it was felt that in general the performances met their specific objectives. RDWSSP's next step is to conduct a pilot project which focuses on training teachers, women's groups, and youth groups, or members of other village institutions in "theatre for development".