In the water and sanitation sector, experience has shown in recent years that the effectiveness of water supply and sanitation projects depends not only on the technology choice and hardware, but also on gender responsive water and sanitation facilities, community management and behavioural change - the core elements of the software component.

The International Federation advocates the integration of hardware and software for water and sanitation and this approach has been recently adopted by the International Federation under the GWSI (Global Water and Sanitation Initiative).

Key criteria within this strategy include:

1.1. Community management

Community management is considered as an umbrella concept, covering the three following components:

1. Community control and ownership of the water and sanitation system: Developing a sense of ownership is crucial since the aim is making the community accept responsibility for maintaining their water systems.

2. Community operation and maintenance: basic WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) knowledge and technical and managerial skills at Red Cross Red Crescent and community level should be established and/or improved. The training and expanding of community skills often increase levels of confidence and ownership within the community and ensure better delivery of services at Red Cross Red Crescent level.

3. Community contribution to cost (operating and capital): Payment is vital to developing sense of ownership within the community and makes the water system durable since the community assume the responsibility of maintenance. A combination of legal ownership and work and economic contribution strengthen the identity that the community has with their water system. The community should identify the rules, regulations and sanctions and put effectively in practices all this regulations with the aim to ensure sustainability and scaling-up.

1.2. Hygiene promotion

Within the watsan family, the belief that hygiene promotion is simply promotion of key hygiene messages during the emergency phase is still frequent. However, dissemination of hygiene messages as hygiene education is simply a component of hygiene promotion since hygiene promotion also includes community mobilization and participation in planning interventions, as well as ongoing operation and maintenance of facilities.

The Sphere definition of hygiene promotion is ‘mix between the population knowledge, practice and resources and agency and resources, which together enable risky hygiene behaviours to be avoided. The three key factors are:

1. mutual sharing of information and knowledge
2. mobilization of communities
3. provision of essential materials and facilities