In South Africa, thousands die every year in disadvantaged areas from preventable diseases like typhoid, diarrhoea, pneumonia and cholera. This is due to lack of hygiene. Worst of all, the diseases affect the most vulnerable and innocent - our children.

No more is it true than in Blikkiesdorp, an informal settlement in the Western Cape, South Africa. We worked with Blikkiesdorp4hope, an accredited NGO backed by the Safety Lab, an organisation that works with the City of Cape Town. They wanted to increase awareness of hand hygiene and create a habit of hand washing among children in Blikkiesdorp.

Research has shown that the simple act of washing hands frequently with soap, is the most effective way of preventing the spread of infection and deadly disease. But providing kids with soap is easy – the biggest challenge is getting them to use it repetitively. This comes from the insight that children simply do not enjoy the tedious task of washing their hands.

Introducing Hope soap. A see-through bar of soap with a small toy inside. The only way for kids to get to the toy, is to use up the soap. Thus the act of hand washing became incentivised.

Hope Soap encouraged a positive change in the behaviour of children in Blikkiesdorp, by instilling the habit of hand washing. Frequent hand washing reduces illnesses by 70% and respiratory infections by 75%. In the end, the children’s small reward was hope a toy, but South Africa’s big reward was hope for a healthier nation.

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Providing kids with soap is easy, getting them to use it routinely is the big challenge. By incentivising the act of hand washing, Hope Soap changed the way kids see hand hygiene. The soap itself promoted the message of healthy hand hygiene and provided children with the solution at the same time.