Photovoice
CASE STUDY – CAMBODIA
Exploring gendered experiences within WASH programs in Cambodia
Data Collection
Audio Surveys
Unpacking significance
Smartphone Photography
Data Analysis
Thematic Analysis
Data Visualisation
Personas
Sensemaking Workshop
Background
Water for Women is Australia’s flagship water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) program supporting improved health, equality and wellbeing in Asian and Pacific communities through socially inclusive and sustainable WASH projects. Water for Women is delivering 18 WASH projects in 15 countries together with 11 research projects (2018-2022).
Sanitation Marketing Scale-Up Program 3 (SMSU3), a water and sanitation intervention implemented by iDE Cambodia contains multiple funding streams including DFAT’s Water for Women fund. The program operates in six rural provinces supporting the promotion and sale of latrines, water filters, faecal sludge management and handwashing systems through private enterprises.
This study was completed as a part of Jess MacArthur’s doctoral research on gender transformations in the WASH sector (UTS HREC REF NO. ETH19-4343) and funded Australian Government’s Water for Women Fund and in collaboration with iDE Cambodia’s SMSU3 program.
Assessment Objective
SMSU3 has sought gender-transformative change for beneficiaries, change agents and staff. This research sought to understand the different experiences of women and men within the SMSU3 program.
Differences were collected using photovoice.
Photovoice is participatory photography approach, which encourages participants to take photos through their own ‘lens’.
Participants
An invitation was sent out to all national level staff in iDE Cambodia, with a first response for 20 openings. 20 iDE staff working in the Phnom Penh office with strong English skills and access to a smartphone with photo capability.
20 iDE Cambodian staff participated in the research.
32 photos were submitted. 25 photos had gender-related content.
The photography prompt solicited aspects of gender equality focused on differences. Participants submitted between 1 and 3 photos with captions and titles.
Data Collection
- Respective (backwards looking) stories of change were collected using micro-narratives.
- Micro-narratives are short audio or text stories which describe changes that the participants report on.
- Stories were to be true, personal and related to the program.
- Staff used their own phones to share their stories using an online survey format in Qualtrics and Phonic.
- The prompts solicited personal changes related to SMSU3 for all field staff members during October 2020.
- 176 staff participated as several opted out of the study.
Data Curation
Once shared, photo-stories were clustered into the categories related to the locations they represented:
- Workplaces
- Communities
- Local Businesses
- Personal Life
A visual photo-book was used to share the results for advocacy and sensemaking arranged into the four location chapters .
Sensemaking and Utilisation
A sensemaking workshop was held with the SMSU3 leadership team and a sub-set of the photographers. The workshop sought to created a set of recommendations for the next phase of the program.
Smartphone Photography
Outputs
Exploring gendered experiences within iDE Cambodia’s SMSU3 WASH Program: Photo-stories
This visual report shares the photovoice results of the midline evaluation of a gender mainstreaming intervention in Cambodia. The report shares 25 gender-related photo-stories by staff members of iDE Cambodia’s SMSU3 program.
Type: Visual Report
Date: August 2022
Fostering the transformative potential of participatory photography: Insights from water and sanitation assessments
This article considers opportunities to strengthen the transformative potential of participatory photography activities within the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. The research comprised two components: A) a systematic literature review of participatory photography activities in the WASH sector; and B) an empirical case of a photovoice evaluation of a staff-focused gender mainstreaming intervention in Cambodia.
Type: Journal Article
Date: August 2022
Citation:
MacArthur J, Carrard N, Koh S, et al. (2022) Fostering the transformative potential of participatory photography : Insights from water and sanitation assessments. PLOS Water 1(8): e0000036. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000036.
