Key Informant Interview: Community Leader

Use the protocol and script below to conduct the key informant interview(s) with the community leader(s) in the study city. Download the Community Leader Data Recording Form to record responses to the questions.

Purpose of Interview with Community Leader

The interview with the community leader(s) is intended to identify the characteristics, amenities, and main problems of the neighborhood. It allows more detailed comparison to other neighborhoods to plan survey activities and environmental sampling. There are two components of your meeting with the community leader: (1) an interview and (2) a transect walk through the neighborhood. The key informant interview/transect walk should take place in every neighborhood targeted for the Exposure Assessment. Collected data will be used to inform the modules to be included in the Exposure Assessment.

Participant

The interview should be conducted with a person who is a recognized community leader in the neighborhood. This may be the leader of the neighborhood association, the Community Based Organization (CBO) leader, the chief or chief’s assistant. The participant must be a resident of the neighborhood and be knowledgeable about the local community.

Venue

A quiet and private venue is needed for the key informant interview in order to reduce interruptions and enable good quality recording. The transect walk will take place throughout the neighborhood.

Interview Instructions

Before starting the questionnaire, we recommend that the implementing team provide a short introduction to the purpose of the Exposure Assessment Tool and implementing organization. We have provided a sample script on the following page. Before any data collection occurs, the interviewer should seek consent to record the interview and transect walk. After the interview, ask the community leader about the main facilities in the neighborhood and visit these areas together asking questions as described on the transect walk guide.

A Note on Probing

For some of the questions in the key informant interviews we have included instructions for probing. Probing questions are meant to allow the interviewee to think more deeply about the question. The interviewer should not impose their ideas or agenda for what they think the answer should be on the interviewee.

Data Recording and Transcription

The interviewer should follow the question on the interview guide but also explore additional issues raised by the community leader. Both the interview and the discussion during the transect walk should be recorded on paper. Key summary points from the interview should be recorded on the data form provided. The data forms provide spaces to address answers to different questions/probes that may be addressed in the key informant interview. The form is meant to make facilitate recording of key points, but should not lead the conversation. If the interviewee did not address the answer to a specific question, you should leave the entry form blank for that question.

Interview Script

Thank you for agreeing to an interview today.

My name is _(your name)__ and we are conducting an assessment on environmental conditions in ____ (city’s name)__ on behalf of __(organizations name)___.Our project is trying to understand how and where people are exposed to fecal contamination in the environment. The goal of this interview is to determine what exposure pathways in this community to study (such as surface water, drinking water, toilets, or fruits and vegetables). As a leader in this community your views and experiences are extremely valuable to us, and we appreciate your contribution to this research.

There are two parts to our meeting today. First, we would like to discuss some specific topics in an interview. In the interview we are most interested to hear your views and concerns about this neighborhood. There are no right or wrong answers, so please feel free to share your own thoughts with us. In the second part, we will walk through your neighborhood together to view some of the sanitation facilities and conditions we discussed.

Your participation today is entirely voluntary. We will not use your name in any documents that arise from the research. I would like to record notes during our interview. The reason for this is so that we do not miss anything that you say, and so we can capture your views correctly. The notes will be kept confidential and only used for this research project to improve environmental health. Is it okay to take notes during our meeting today? (Confirm consent).

The interview and neighborhood walk will last about 2 hours. Do you have any questions before we begin?

Opening Questions

1. How long have you lived in [neighborhood name]?

2. What is your role as a community leader in [neighborhood name]?

3. How long has this neighborhood been here?

4. What is your best estimate of how many people live in this neighborhood?

5. How does the water and sanitation infrastructure in this neighborhood compare to other similar neighborhoods?

Questions about community layout and infrastructure

6. What public facilities are available in this neighborhood? This includes places like schools, clinics, sports facilities, churches, burial grounds, theater venues, community centers etc.

7. What sorts of street food are most commonly consumed in this neighborhood? (probe: by adults? By teenagers? By children?)

8. Does this neighborhood flood? Flooding includes standing water that may persist for several days. If so, how often?

9. Are there open (uncovered) drains in the neighborhood?

10. Is there a municipal water source in this neighborhood? Do people drink the municipal water source?

11. If people drink the municipal water, what sources do they most commonly drink from (for example: tap, hand pump, tube well, etc.)?

12. Is the municipal water source consistently available or is it intermittent?

13. In addition to municipal water, what is another primary drinking source in the neighborhood for men, women, and children? (for example: jar water, deep tube well, shallow tube well, municipal truck water, etc.)

14. What water source do people use primarily for bathing (for example: tap, hand pump, tube well, surface water, etc.)?

15. What sorts of latrines are available in this community? (probe: household? Community? Shared? Public?) Which is most commonly used?)

16. Are there communal latrines in this community? If so, how many?

17. Are there bodies of water such ocean, ponds, lagoons or rivers in this neighborhood? If so, what are their names?

18. Are there farms that produce vegetables and fruit in your community?

Questions about exposure to fecal contamination

19. Would children or adults in your community go into the ocean/rivers/lakes/ponds for any reason? If so, for what?

20. Would adults or children in your community come into contact with open drains for any reason?

21. Would adults or children in your community ever come into contact with floodwater?

22. Is it common for adults or children to eat uncooked vegetables or fruit in the city? If so, what sort of produce?

23. Where are the vegetables and fruits sold?

24. Do you think that the water used for irrigation of fruit and vegetables contains fecal contamination? Do you think that wastewater is used to fertilize the fruit and vegetable plants?

25. Do you think people might be exposed to fecal contamination in public latrines?

26. How do public latrines dispose of human waste? Where does the waste end up?

27. Where do most people in your community go to defecate?

28. What is your main environmental health concern with relation to water and sanitation?

Closing Questions

29. Are there any other important characteristics of this neighborhood or environmental health issues that we have not discussed?

30. Can we now walk through the neighborhood together to visit some of the areas that you have described? Prioritize, public latrines, drinking and bathing water sources, surface and ocean water, open drains and waste water irrigated farms as places to visit.

Thank you for this information!