Using baseline surveys to inform interventions and follow-up surveys: a case-study using the Nampula Province Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Program

The Nampula Province Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Program is a partnership among the Government of Mozambique, UNICEF, and the Australian Government focused on achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation in Mozambique and concentrated on five small towns in Nampula Province. Before implementation of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions in these towns, a baseline survey was carried out in 2012. We show how such a survey can be used to characterize the state of the three WASH sub-themes (water, sanitation, hygiene) pre-intervention, suggest possible new emphases of or modifications to proposed interventions, and inform the design of follow-up surveys to best gauge the impact of the interventions.