In 2010, IRC has endeavoured to generate insightful, informative, and provocative pieces for the international WASH sector and the general public using its home page and “The voice from communities” blog. Provided is an overview of the most popular articles and themes of the past year.
Top 3 most visited on IRC website
- In 2010, the most visited post was Atono school in Kenya (Authors: Dick de Jong and Ingeborg Krukkert), as part of the Regional Programme- East Africa newsfeed. The story which focused on water sanitation improvements at Atono school in Kenya attracted 684 viewers. The Antono school study aimed to find out if the Kenyan Ministry of Health’s standard ratio of 1 latrine to 25 girls and 1 toilet to 30 boys can be downgraded if the pupils also have access to urinals.
- This year, IRC also ran a contest entitled “Tell us a story – for pride and a prize” (Author: Caridad Machín Camacho). Last year, IRC’S Source Bulletin sent out an international call for stories based on communities and their applied interventions; which either helped or failed to improve sanitation and hygiene situations. 399 people followed this post throughout 2010, with 30 stories being submitted. Thanks to the positive reaction from people towards this contest, IRC has decided to continue the contest well into the new year.
- The third most popular link on the IRC website, with 395 views was another Source feature: “Ethiopia: the success of the ArborLoo latrine” (Authors: Mayling Simpson-Hebert and Dennis Warner). The ArborLoo is the simplest of all eco toilets. Using a revolutionary approach that views human excreta as resources to be utilised rather than waste to be avoided, the ArborLoo is steadily becoming part of Ethopian rural culture. After each use, a cup of soil and wood ash mixture is added to encourage composting, reduce smell, and discourage insects.
During the last quarter of 2010 (from August to December), the most visited posts proved to be: “We are all story winners in this issue!” (Author: Caridad Machín Camacho) with 93 visits; “IRC to launch TWO new interactive websites in 2011- Give us YOUR input!” (Author: Dick de Jong) with 63 visits; and “Stellar examples of media and communications strategies” (Author: Dick de Jong), accumulating 56 hits.
The overall 2010 Top 10 listing of most visited on the IRC website are as follows:
i. Atono school in Kenya (Dick de Jong and Ingeborg Krukkert)- 684 views
ii. Contest: Tell us a story – for pride and a prize (Caridad Machín Camacho)- 399 views
iii. Ethiopia: the success of the ArborLoo latrine (Mayling Simpson-Hebert and Dennis Warner)- 395 views
iv. Vietnam: a toilet mason’s business career (Christine Sijbesma and Dr. Truong Xuan Truong)- 386 views
v. Right to water and sanitation: going beyond the MDG targets (Cor Dietvorst)- 250 views
vi. Alternativas para los problemas de abastecimiento de agua en grandes ciudades (Paola Chaves- Universidad del Valle)- 208 views
vii. Trabajar en redes “sin enredarnos” (Caridad Machín Camacho)- 177 views
viii. India, Uttar Pradesh: transforming lives of people with HIV/AIDS through WASH services (Johnson Jeyaseelan- WaterAid India)- 149 views
ix. Uganda: improving local dialogues and WASH governance in practice (Dick de Jong and Peter Bury)- 144 views
x. WASH United harnesses the power of football (Virginia Roaf- WSSCC)- 143 views
GENDER: Key 2010 WASH theme to catch attention on community story postings
This past 18th of October was the busiest day for IRC’s most popular blog: “The voice from communities”. With 271 views that day alone, the article “Gender is also about men” garnered the most attention. Throughout the year, this very article also received 549 visits via the IRC website, and 912 from the blog site. With a total of 1461 visitors, the gender related post indicates that IRC’s general audience is greatly interested in this theme. It is fascinating to note that the blog attracted more viewers for this particular story, in comparison to the IRC website.
The second most popular community related story posting, with 608 hits (on the IRC website) was “The Group of Change: Youth motivate community to change their defecation practices”. An intriguing article from Sri Lanka, which was also posted on the IRC website, entitled “Miss, may I go to the toilet, please!” attracted 496 viewers.
Where do blog visitors come from and what do they look for?
Site visit statistics indicate that the top referring sites of 2010 towards IRC’s electronic postings were Facebook, Yahoo mail, Live mail, lifewater.org, and Twitter. Visitors often came searching for posts related to “Kala Dhaka”, “running water uphill”, “sources of water”, “running water uphill voice”, and “Darband Pakistan”.
Overall, these are the posts and pages that received the most hits in 2010. You can review all of the year’s most visted by logging into the WordPress site and checking Site Stats. IRC will continue to track website activity in 2011 in order to spot trends and useful ways to share stories and information.
- Caridad Machín Camacho & Angelica de Jesus; 2011.
Overview of Stories in 2010; Story contest Page views in 2010
Overview of the last quater in 2010: We are all story winners in this issue: http://www.irc.nl/page/56001
