SNV Bhutan's Sustainable Sanitation & Hygiene for All (SSH4A) project has accelerated area wide progress in sanitation and hygiene by strengthening the professional and organisational capacity of government, private sector and stakeholders to develop a sustainable service delivery model at scale in Bhutan.   Technical support, nationally to the two lead government agencies and with 10 districts has supported the further development and scaling up of the national Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Programme to reach half of the country.

The programme is based on the SSH4A approach which integrates sanitation demand creation, supply chain development, behaviour change communication and governance. Combined with the knowledge and learning processes,  formative research on disability, gender and poverty and the technical support of IRC as a knowledge partner, it has strengthened the enabling environment contributing to the development of the national sanitation and hygiene policy, rural sanitation and hygiene programme strategy, guidelines and tools in the process. 

As a result, 107,734 additional people are now using an improved sanitation facility (JMP definition*) against the project target of 85,000 people,32,716 additional people have household access to hand washing facilities and 39 communities (sub-district blocks) achieved Open Defecation Free status as part of the national approach.