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SEI’s Development, Policy and Finance Team and the Swedish Development Research Network (SweDev) were pleased to present Professor Dr. Shyama V. Ramani as the keynote speaker for the next Dialogue on Development Research.
A toilet celebration.
For decades, low- and middle-income countries have been trying to address the problem of open defecation (OD) by building basic low-cost toilets and coupling this with education drives for behavioural change. Though OD has reduced drastically overall, progress is deemed too slow in 30 countries, and OD has increased in another 10. The findings of Dr. Ramani’s research contribute to understanding tipping points for social norm transitions around defecation behaviour. The study shows how village characteristics, existing social norms, sanitation programs’ features, and the evolving confidence of community members in using toilets drive the dynamics. Some villages transition to open defecation free, while others stagnate or even revert to OD. This highlights the importance of targeted interventions to influence tipping dynamics and achieve sustainable open defecation free communities.
This engaging dialogue included a discussion between Dr. Shyama and session discussant Dr. Nicholas Igwe, Founder and National Coordinator at OPS-WASH. Attendees were given the opportunity to pose questions to the speakers during a Q&A session.
The dialogue was moderated by Carly Evaeus, Project Manager at SEI.
Dr. Shyama V. Ramani is a Professorial Fellow at the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT) with over three decades of research and teaching experience. She holds a PhD in economics from Cornell University.
Professor Ramani is also a serial academic and social entrepreneur. She founded the charity Friend in Need India Trust and the social enterprise SITE4Sustainability, which explore how to drive positive change through charitable and market-based solutions.
Dr. Nicholas Igwe, founder and National Coordinator at OPS-WASH (Organized Private Sector in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and a member of the Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) panel and the National Task Group on Sanitation in Nigeria representing the Private Sector. He is a chemical engineer with specific qualifications in polymer and water engineering. He founded Zenith Water Projects Limited, which aims to provide innovative water technology solutions across Africa.
This dialogue was part of SEI’s and SweDev’s seminar series Dialogues on Development Research. The aim of the Dialogues on Development Research is to spread the findings of development research. The dialogues serve as a platform for researchers to share their work in an informal and public manner. The dialogue series target researchers, practitioners and policymakers within the field of development research.
The Swedish Development Research Network is a member-based network. SweDev aims to connect development researchers across Sweden to strengthen collaboration within the research community and to increase interaction between development researchers and practitioners. SweDev seeks to support the use of research-based knowledge for efficient policymaking and practice among actors working for the 2030 Agenda.
SweDev is led by a steering committee consisting of representatives from Swedish academic institutions.
Learn more about SweDev.
The Development Policy and Finance Team at SEI Headquarters is a group of researchers working on topics related to human development, finance and the environment. We conduct research from local to global scale, providing state of the art interdisciplinary research, analysis and training to inform policy and practice at the nexus of environment and development research and policy.
Learn more about SEI’s Development, Policy and Finance Team.
Project / SweDev connects development researchers in Sweden to strengthen and promote synergies within the development research community.
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