Abstract: Achieving sustainable development goals of environmental sanitation and public health has led to a focus on developing innovative and sustainable approaches to improving public health in low-income areas. The inadequacy of the diffusion model of communication in achieving the desired citizens’ behavioural change to improve environmental sanitation in the country has necessitated the need for this study. This study proposes a participatory model for improving waste management and public health in Delta State. Respondents’ opinions on the operational perception of the proposed participatory model acknowledged the need for a change in the operational mechanism and approaches to the implementation of the national environmental sanitation policy in the State. With the commencement of the review of the national policy on environmental sanitation to reflect current global concerns, the adoption of the participatory model mechanism for development communication will propagate collective action toward improved environmental sanitation and reduce socio-economic exclusion in Nigeria.