Presentation by Sabrina Aggarwal at the Tenth Annual Games for Change Festival in New York City

1. 3:35 pm – 3:55 pm
Sanitation:
A Massive Opportunity for
Games in India & Africa
Sabrina Aggarwal
(WASH for India)
Wednesday, June 19, 13

2. The Sanitation & Hygiene Crisis
India & Africa are suffering from a massive crisis in sanitation and hygiene.
1.1 billion people defecate in the open. Only about 50% wash their hands with soap after
defecation and before eating. Only about 20% of women have access to MHM. Even fewer
have access to clean drinking water. The results are severe.
More than 1,500 children die from preventable diarrhea every day. According to the World
Bank, the health costs, productivity losses and lost tourism caused by poor sanitation and
hygiene cost India USD 53.6 billion (6.4% of GDP) - every year!
The Underlying Problem: The traditional sanitation & hygiene sector lacks the innovative,
high impact campaigning & behavior change ideas.
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3. THE SANITATION CRISIS
THREE PILLARS TO ADDRESS THE CRISIS
SOLUTIONS
INFRASTRUCTURE
AWARENESS &
BEHAVIOR CHANGE
COMMUNICATION (BCC)
ADVOCACY
INCREASING TOILET
COVERAGE
TOILET INNOVATION
CAMPAIGN
MONITORING
CAMPAIGN
INNOVATION
IMPLEMENTING
POLICY
IMPROVING POLICY
MASS AWARENESS
AWARENESS & BCC
CAMPAIGNS
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4. Founded by Nirat Bhatnagar, WASH For India
is a social innovation catalyst for the WASH
sector in India under incorporation in the US
as a 501 (c)(3).
WASH For India will act as a bridge to
provide knowledge, partnership, funding, &
volunteering resources to carefully selected
social enterprises and nonprofits working in
India.
Game design is a strategic discipline that
WASH For India will foster for its partners in
India.
WASH For India
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5. Founded by Ashoka Fellow Thorsten Kiefer,
WASH United is an award-winning social
enterprise that pioneers the use of sport star
ambassadors, interactive educational games
and innovative campaigning formats to make
toilets & good hygiene “cool” and to facilitate
life-saving behavior change.
WASH United is headquartered in Berlin /
Germany, with regional hubs in India and
Africa.
www.wash-united.org
Wednesday, June 19, 13

6. The Need For Innovation & Entrepreneurial
Thinking
One of the key bottle-necks for sanitation and
hygiene in India is the lack of exciting ideas &
programs to change attitudes and behaviors
around sanitation and hygiene at scale.
WASH United intends to solve this problem.
Over the next couple of years, WASH United
will provide the entire WASH sector with
cutting-edge products and services (ranging
from free-for-all off the shelf products for small
non-profits to tailor-made products for
partners who are able to pay, such as different
multi-laterals) to accelerate progress towards
sanitation and hygiene for all people in India.
FOR THE WASH SECTOR
INNOVATION HUB
WASH UNITED India will become THE
innovation engine for sanitation &
hygiene advocacy and behavior change
in India.
Wednesday, June 19, 13

7. A Big Bang Start: The Nirmal Bharat Yatra In
2012
WASH United India started in 2012 with the Nirmal
Bharat Yatra.
Led by WASH United, and in partnership with the
Government of India, Gates Foundation, Arghyam,
WaterAid India, Unicef India etc, the Yatra helped to
train more than 8,000 children in good WASH
behavior, engaged more than 160,000 visitors through
specially designed games and reached more than 230
million Indians with critical WASH messaging
through the media.
Impact Evaluation
WASH United thoroughly evaluated the Nirmal
Bharat Yatra’s schools program, including pre- and
post-intervention surveys. The result: a significant
increase in WASH knowledge and change in WASH
behavior amongst participating children.
www.nirmalbharatyatra.org
Wednesday, June 19, 13

8. 5 States | 6 Locations | 56 Days | 2,000 km
• 2 Acres
• 20 Games
• 4 Labs
• 470 Person Crew
At Each Location
NIRMAL BHARAT YATRA
WASH United In 2012
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9. DEVELOPED BY
PARTNERS
WASH United
NIRMAL BHARAT YATRA PARTNER ECOSYSTEM
IMPLEMENTED
WITH
www.goonj.org
DESIGN
PARTNERS
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10. Wednesday, June 19, 13

11. Game: Poo Marbles
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12. Game: Poo In The Loo
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13. Game: Musical Toilets
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14. Game: Poo Minefield
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15. Game: Bowl Out
Diarrhea
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16. Game: Clean Hands
Challenge
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17. Game: Ludo
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18. ‣ 160,000 people attended the Yatra carnival and
learned about appropriate sanitation & hygiene
behavior through games, labs, performances, &
other fun experiences
‣ Reached 230 million people with messages of
sanitation & hygiene in India through mass
media.
‣ ~ 8,500 school children trained in appropriate
WASH behavior through the WASH-In-Schools
program
‣ 180 teachers & 1,500+ peer educators trained
in delivering WASH United’s sports based
curriculum to appropriate WASH behavior
OUTCOMES
NIRMAL BHARAT YATRA
Wednesday, June 19, 13

19. Design Lab
The Great WASH
Carnival
WASH United
Football League
COMPELLING
CONTENT
WASH-In-Schools
WASH United In India
4 PILLARED STRATEGY & PROGRAMS
Poolitzer
WASH Dog
Research &
Evaluation
Lab
Celebrity Program
EXCITING
DELIVERY
MEDIA &
ADVOCACY
EVALUATION
Mass Campaigns
WASH United
Curriculum
Catalog
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20. Games &
WASH
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21. Why Games For Behavior Change
Intrinsic Motivation +
Emotional Appeal
•Players do not just engage in ready-made
gameplay but also actively take part in the
construction of these experiences. When
successful, this type of participation leads
to strong gameplay experiences that can
have particularly powerful hold on the
player’s actions and attention (Ermi and
Mayra)
•Unlike many traditional educational
techniques, games can tap into both
higher and lower order thinking skills.
These range from critical thinking to
retaining and recalling information. Game
playing is inherently participatory; this
“interactivity” has been well established in
many fields as the hallmark of all good
teaching. (PATH)
•Instruction incorporating game features
led to improved learning, because it
enhanced student motivation, which led to
greater attention to training content and
greater retention (Garris)
Increased Learning
Likelihood
•The inherent thing about games is
that people want to play them (Von
Ahn and Dabbish)
•Games sow fertile ground for
teachable moments. As soon as a
game begins, the traditional hierarchy
of the classroom or family is set aside
—a useful educational dynamic,
especially considering that the parent
or educator is not going to be present
when the learner makes many of his/
her most critical health decisions in
life (PATH)
•Their behavior is self -driven and out
of self volition instead of being driven
by outside forces (Garris)
Wednesday, June 19, 13

22. Market Opportunity
The Government of India has a USD 450 million annual budget for the creation
of awareness and behavior change materials for WASH across India. Out of this,
nearly 65% remains unspent due to a lack of interesting ideas.
There is a HUGE opportunity to design pilot programs using game mechanics,
test them rigorously, and then scale them up in partnership with WASH United or
multi-laterals who work very closely with the government.
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23. WASH United Program Strategy
!
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24. Use Of Games & Gamification
WASH For India & WASH United want to push the use of games & gamification in
Advocacy, Awareness, & Behavior Change for WASH in India & Africa.
Almost all pieces of Advocacy / Awareness / Behavior Change programs lend
themselves to gamification. Some processes that lend themselves to this are:
Advocacy
•Getting media to provide higher quality coverage of
WASH
•Better monitoring mechanisms for sanitation facility
usage.
•Inter-village competitions for sanitation improvement
Awareness
•Physical, mobile phone, mixed media games that
promote WASH awareness in children in slums and
villages.
•Technology led games that promote awareness of the
WASH problem in the western world.
Behavior Change
•Games that encourage the adoption of consistent good
WASH behavior (toilets, handwashing with soap,
menstrual hygiene management, & drinking clean
water) amongst the at-risk population.
Wednesday, June 19, 13

25. Examples
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26. WASH UNITED SOCCER/ CRICKET LEAGUE
A match with epic consequences: Soccer vs Diarrhea. The WASH United
Cricket / Soccer Leagues harness sports to teach children & youth in slums and
villages critical lifesaving WASH behavior. Local Champions are appointed and
organize WASH workshops & sports based events in the communities constantly.
•20 Champions in pilot
•1,000+ children enrolled in the WASH
United Cricket League
•200+ WASH themed cricket matches
•200+ WASH Workshops
•20,000+ people reached out directly
•10+ million people reached out through
mass media
GOALS
Wednesday, June 19, 13

27. Market Making: WASH Football League
Constraint: Sustained training and behavior change for 50,000 children through
football.
Unique Program
Design
Anchoring Goal
Goal Top 125. Mobilizing organizations
individuals and organizations who are
passionate about football and would want to
see India in the top 125 in the FIFA ranking.
Creating a real world Fantasy Football League by
giving people a chance to adopt a slum football
team + coach through a high immersion web
platform.
Strategic
Partnerships India On Track
(planned)
Wednesday, June 19, 13

28. THE GREAT WASH CARNIVAL
The Nirmal Gram Mela takes a magical carnival full of exciting WASH games,
performances, & labs to hundreds of villages across India. In addition to
awareness & behavior change goals, the Mela also serves as a platform constant
research & innovation through the Design Lab & Research Lab that travel along
with the Mela.
•Educating 100,000 people across 100
villages in appropriate sanitation &
hygiene behavior
•10+ million people reached through mass
media (TV, print, radio)
•Constant innovation of content through
Design Lab
•Constant evaluation through Research Lab
GOALS
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30. Wednesday, June 19, 13

31. Leverage: Nirmal Gram Mela
Design Challenge: To create self-contained, innovative, outcome linked IEC
solutions that the Government funds.
Unique Program
Design
A mini-carnival that travels in rural India
throughout the year and delivers Awareness,
Engagement, Training, Behavior Change
outcomes at less than NBA cost guidelines while
minimizing program planning overheads for the
Government.
Gamified
Enhancements &
Scaleup
Building an interactive web layer that allows
individuals and organizations to support the Mela
by buying it “enhancements” - more games,
more people, more “life”, enhanced equipment
etc. Over time, this could be a League of Melas
that compete with each other for outcomes.
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32. Game Design Fellowship
Together, how can we
revolutionize gaming and
gamification for social good?
That will be the central question
of the Game Design Fellowship.
Are you adventurous, passionate
about games for social impact
and willing to live in India for
6-8 months? This may be the
fellowship for you. We are
looking for game designers to
help us brainstorm and develop
games across different
platforms. Please get in touch.
Wednesday, June 19, 13

33. We are seeking to forge strategic partnerships with
organizations & individuals in game design.
To know more, please contact:
Nirat Bhatnagar
Founder & CEO. WASH For India
CEO. WASH United India
Email: nirat@washforindia.org / nirat.bhatnagar@wash-
united.org
Sabrina Aggarwal
Head Partnerships
WASH For India
Email: sabrina.aggarwal@wash-united.org
Wednesday, June 19, 13