The Global Handwashing Partnership

What We Do

Our work focuses on strengthening the hygiene enabling environment and helping handwashing implementers move from knowledge to action.

The Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) works to develop and share knowledge to strengthen handwashing implementation. We also work to build political commitment and trigger action to promote handwashing at local, national, and international levels, including through advocacy initiatives such as Global Handwashing Day.

The GHP helps implementers, corporations, and governments drive handwashing promotion and behavior change forward in meaningful ways. The GHP also works across sectors to engage those who work in advocacy, sanitation, nutrition, health, and education.

Our work centers around two specific objective areas. We work to:

1. Strengthen enabling environments to help foster progress for proper handwashing with soap. This includes advocating for hygiene targets and indicators within policy frameworks and accountability mechanisms; providing feedback to government commitments; strengthening the broader WASH sector; supporting private sector engagement in hygiene promotion; calling for innovation within the sector; and strategically aligning with key coalitions.
2. Identify and promote best practices by providing tools, guidance, and resources to support improved handwashing programming. The GHP facilitates knowledge exchange and translation of knowledge to action through knowledge leadership, capacity building, and fostering key relationships. The GHP maintains a focus on integration with other sectors, such as sanitation, nutrition, and education.

We are committed to equity in our work and in hygiene programming more broadly, including for gender, disability, socio-economic status, and other areas. Read our history to learn about the GHP’s previous accomplishments.

Leveraging partnerships

We leverage partnerships to spur innovation, increase awareness, share knowledge, increase reach, and improve the overall impact of handwashing promotion and practice. This includes:

• Connecting public and private sector organizations to build collaborative projects;
• Harnessing the voice, resources, reach, expertise and experience of partners for wider advocacy impact;
• Sharing learning and expertise across sectors.

Want to read more about our work? Read our 2019 Annual Report.

We encourage organizations who share our vision of universal handwashing with soap to considering joining us. Stay up-to-date on our latest advocacy and knowledge leadership activities by subscribing to our SoapBox newsletter.