A transdisciplinary co-design and behaviour change approach to introducing sodis to rural communities in Malawi

Despite the increasing volume of evidence demonstrating the efficacy of solar water disinfection (SODIS) as a household water treatment technology, there still appear to be significant barriers to uptake in developing countries. SODIS potential is often treated with skepticism both in terms of effective treatment, and the safety of plastics used. As such it is often dismissed in preference for more accepted technologies such as ceramic filters and dose chlorination.

We report formative findings of the WaterSPOUTT (Water – Sustainable Point Of Use Treatment Technology ) project (www.WATERSPOUTT.eu), carried out at the Centre for Water, Sanitation, Health And Appropriate Technology Development Centre (WASHTED) at the University of Malawi – Polytechnic from June 2016 – September 2018. The outputs of this formative stage will lead to the piloting of a SODIS system for 12 months (November 2018 – October 2019) in Chikwawa District, Southern Malawi.

This posterhighlights activities pertaining to co-design process between the transdisciplinary research team, and potential end users. The process sought to ensure that the design is, socially accepted, locally adapted, and can be effectively operated and managed during field trials. We present results to date.