Alynne Iversen in Malawi

The challenge

On the surface, water and sanitation problems may appear to be purely technical issues, best left to scientists. But dig a little deeper, and it soon becomes clear that these problems also directly relate to the attitudes and behaviours of citizens themselves.

This rings particularly true in Malawi, as Alynne Iversen quickly discovered during her Engineers Without Borders’ placement. Alynne works with Training Support Partners (TSP) in the densely populated African nation.

The opportunity

TSP uses two approaches to effect change in Malawi’s water and sanitation infrastructure. The first is citizen action, which involves partners like TSP educating average Malawians about their entitlement to services, the current situation and who is responsible for those services. This knowledge empowers citizens to hold governments and other stakeholders accountable to the public for water and sanitation provisions.

TSP uses a second approach to spur action – social marketing. Alynne works with the TSP team to apply marketing principles to promote behavioural changes. But rather than marketing a brand, they are selling ideas, attitudes and behaviours regarding improved water and sanitation services.

“It has been hugely rewarding to apply my education in journalism and environmental systems engineering to drive real change in Africa,” says Alynne.