In
a country that is made up of 90 per cent desert and where water is today so
scarce that it is rationed, one would imagine that everyone uses the resource
respectfully and sparingly.
But
awareness of the problem is one thing and behavior is yet another. For, while
people may be aware of the situation of extreme water scarcity, they do not
always behave accordingly. Now a new education programme in Jordan, Water
Efficiency and Public Information for Action (WEPIA), wants to change this.
“We
don’t like the word awareness,” says Hala Dahlan of WEPIA. “It is not
enough. Of course lots of people are aware of the situation but what are
they actually doing about it themselves? WEPIA wants to create more than
awareness. We want to change attitudes and behavior patterns. People’s use of
the resource has to change fundamentally and lastingly.”
To
effect this behavioral revolution across all levels of society, WEPIA – an
initiative of the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the American
Academy for Educational Development – has taken a hands-on approach. Since its
creation in 2000 it has achieved the amendment of several laws, launched two
major media campaigns and designed education programmes for everyone from
toddlers to university students, women, and even imams.
Water
Saving Devices
The
core of its work has, however, centered on the dissemination of “water saving
devices” (WSDs); small attachments that can be screwed on to taps, showerheads
or installed in toilets to reduce the water flow. Dahlan explains that WEPIA
found that after the failure of earlier initiatives to introduce WSDs among
urban users, their first task had been to investigate the reasons behind the
lack of success of WSDs.
“We
looked at the large consumers – hospitals, hotels and universities – and saw
that the majority of the water saving devices there had been ruined, stolen or
simply lost. Users and suppliers didn’t know enough about them and the large
consumers didn’t see the benefit. They didn’t know how to use and maintain
them, and so the WSDs quickly fell into disuse,” explained Dahlan.
“Domestic
users, on the other hand, were willing to use them: they were generally aware of
the water scarcity problem and wanted to save water, but they didn’t know
where to obtain the devices, or how to install and maintain them. So we decided
we needed to adopt a systematic approach to turn the situation around,” she
said.
Large
users underwent detailed water audits with water experts and engineers
registering all the quantities and areas of water use. Using this audit, the
experts calculated how much water – and indirectly how much energy and how
much money – the user could save by using WSDs. Once they saw the results,
many large consumers adopted the WSDs. And by 2003, 60 per cent of the large
water consumers in Jordan had fitted their premises with water saving devices.
The
Heating-up Approach
To
draw in the domestic consumer, WEPIA adopted a social marketing technique, the
“heating-up approach”, which puts the consumer under pressure from all sides
and thus forces him to change his behavior patterns. At home, in the mosque, on
television and in the newspapers, the consumer is permanently reminded of the
importance of water conservation and sustainable use.
Children
of all age groups were sent home from school with the task of carrying out a
water audit at home, itemizing the quantities of water used in the kitchen, in
the bathroom and in the garden and seeing in which areas water could be saved.
They showed the results to their parents and tried to convince them of the
savings the household could make by using WSDs. As part of the children’s
educational programme, WEPIA also managed to obtain a full revision of the
school curriculum so that today, integrated water use and conservation issues
are taught in grades 1 to 11 in five subject areas.
Women,
and particularly women at home, were also targeted as “an indirect way of
getting to the men,” Dahlan explains. “The slogan of the programme was
‘The Solution is at Your End’, and it was a bit like the American Tupperware
party idea: WEPIA trained women to promote water conservation in the home and
sell WSDs at social gatherings and women’s get-togethers. Besides being
useful, it also gave them an extra income.” The women received a special
demonstration kit with a selection of WSDs and a chart that they could use
during their demonstrations.
The
Message of Religion
|
|
| Many
imams integrated WEPIA's message into their sermons and Friday teachings
|
Women
were also involved in a separate campaign in which water conservation was taught
through the Qur’an. WEPIA first started work with religious leaders and imams,
informing them about water resources in Jordan, the problems the country is
facing and methods that could help to save water. Many of them integrated these
messages into their sermons and Friday teachings. For Ramadan 2003, the imams
produced a booklet on water and Islam with WEPIA, containing special prayers and
injunctions surrounding water in the Ramadan period. As part of this project the
imams trained women who in turn gave lessons in water conservation to other
women at home. And as the imams were not keen to sell the water saving devices
themselves, the women took this task upon themselves.
Raising
awareness and changing attitudes to water through religion has proved very
successful, as Dahlan explains. “There is a great receptivity for religious
messages in Jordanian society and we have had considerable success through this
method,” she says. Dr. Murad Bino, Director of the Inter-Islamic Network on
Water Resources Development and Management (INWRDAM) in Amman, agrees that Islam
can play an important role in changing people’s attitudes to water and
conservation issues. “The government uses the teachings of the Qur’an about
water to raise awareness among the population. Because of the importance of
religion in many people’s lives, they accept the message readily and are open
to the teachings,” he says.
To
monitor the success of its programmes, WEPIA keeps a permanent tab on WSD
sales’ rates: by keeping in close contact with suppliers, it can see whether
sales are rising or falling. As soon as negative results are registered, WEPIA
knows that part of its message to society is not coming across and it
investigates what part of its work needs to be modified.
The
Role of Mass Media
WEPIA’s
core message is: “The Solution Is at Your End.” |
|
In
parallel to its targeted educational programmes, WEPIA has been disseminating
its message through television, radio, newspapers and magazines, with campaigns
in 2001 and 2002. The central character of both campaigns was Abu Tawfir,
“Father Conservation”. He was portrayed as a typical average Jordanian: a
government employee who lives in an urban setting with his wife and son.
Abu
Tawfir was shown installing WSDs around his house and making sure none of his
taps leaked. Newspapers also ran cartoons and ads that explained the reasons for
water scarcity in Jordan in simple graphics. The cartoons were accompanied by
tips on how to improve healthy water use, for example showing people how to
clean their water tank effectively.
An
important aspect of WEPIA’s media campaigns was the involvement of local NGOs
and several private companies. Together with the newly created Water Demand
Management (WDM) unit at the Ministry of Water Resources, these NGOs will take
over WEPIA’s work when its mandate expires after 2004. Since its creation in
2002, the WDM unit has worked on several campaigns both with WEPIA and
independently.
People
Power
Rania
Abdel Khaleq, the unit’s director, says that while their awareness campaigns
and educational programmes have been largely successful, there are challenges
ahead. “The negative content of our message makes it difficult to get people
to listen: people don't want to hear what we are saying, so we have to try to
make the message as positive as we can,” she says. Abdel Khaleq explains that
the word “conservation” had negative connotations for many and that people
felt it implied a drop in living standards. Instead, the WDM unit now uses the
term “efficiency”.
Abdel
Khaleq and Dahlan also admit that despite their work, many people still feel it
is the government’s task to solve scarcity. “People blame the government for
the water problem. They say there should be more resource development and water
projects. They don’t realize that the resources are all being stretched to the
limit already,” says Abdel Khaleq. The greatest challenge for Jordanian NGOs
and the Ministry’s WDM unit will be to ensure the durability of WEPIA’s
work, not only perpetrating its education and media projects, but also making
sure that the general public doesn’t forget WEPIA’s core message: ‘The
Solution Is at Your End’.
Francesca
De Châtel is
a Dutch journalist and writer specializing in water issues in North Africa and
the Middle East. She may be reached at: dechatel@hetnet.nl
