Study title

Ethiopia

Individual

The research was based on primary data collected from three villages in the Dulassa Woreda within Administrative Zone Three of Afar State. The study involved a quantitative survey which focused on water consumption and sanitation and hygiene practices and the collection of emotion-based data related to these factors. Quantitative surveys were performed with 148 individuals from three communities. The study took place in three communities in the Tirtira Kebele of the Dulassa Woreda. The villages were initially chosen to account for different levels of access to improved water sources, however between the scoping visit for village selection (March 2018) and the main data collection period (June 2018), the improved water source (borehole) that was available in one of the villages failed. As a result, all villages were predominately reliant on unimproved water sources during the data collection period. The communities had similar contextual factors, such as clan and sub-clan membership, population size, wealth and mix of ages. This meant that the three communities were homogenous in terms of water access and socio-cultural markers and, as such, the data were analysed at a generalised level across all villages.The survey involved quantitative closed questions on household water sources, water use, accessibility and quantity, as well as questions around latrine access, safety and hygiene. The quantitative surveys were also used to measure basic socio-demographics of households. A research team of five enumerators were enlisted as part of the data collection team. The quantitative survey was designed in English and translated into Afar with a pilot study conducted on six households allowing enumerators to build confidence and clarify any cultural or language misinterpretations. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and the survey responses were recorded using mWater; a digital WASH data collection software accessible on hand-held tablets (mWater, no date). Sampling was designed based on random sampling at the household level, with both female head and male head surveyed in each household wherever possible (total sample includes 54% male and 46% female). As has been the case with similar studies of pastoralist communities, the implementation of random sampling approach was challenged by respondents being dispersed across large rangelands meaning that the approach shifted towards a convenient sampling approach in the field. With the village populations between 50 and 80 households, the relative size of the survey samples (38, 54 and 56) indicates the data are still fairly representative of the population. During the data collection period, the research lead ensured survey completion and consistency by syncing data within the mWater software, daily. Concluding the data collection period, data stored were downloaded into an Excel database for basic descriptive statistical analysis whilst additional analysis was conducted using SPSS.