Free Course: Designing and Implementing Successful Water Supply and Sanitation Utility Reform

Free online course from the World Bank:

In emerging markets, many water supply and sanitation utilities are locked in a vicious spiral of weak performance, insufficient funding, deterioration of assets, institutional discrepancies and political interference. This is largely the consequence of poor governance, ineffective and misdirected policies, and the monopolistic nature of the sector.To help support reform in the water and sanitation sectors, the World Bank Institute (WBI) has developed a core learning program in “Designing and Implementing Successful Utility Reform.” The objective of the program is to provide government officials, senior managers of utilities and technical staff with the knowledge, skills and tools for initiating and sustaining reform. This e-learning program, which consists of lessons, case studies and exercises, supports stakeholders to reform their water utility.Target Audience:
Mid-level managers and technical specialists who are responsible for change in their organization. more…

 

 

About the e-Institute:

 

This unique global portal is designed to support self-motivated learners who want to get up to speed on the latest development trends, enhance their skills, and share knowledge through on-line learning communities.
Connect.  Learn.  Innovate.  Inspire.

 

One of the greatest challenges facing today’s development practitioners is the dearth of affordable, innovative, and practitioner-focused training on the “how to” of policy reform and proven good practices customized to local needs. Tight training budgets and time constraints preclude travel to a central location for high quality, hands-on learning. The e-Institute was launched as a virtual learning classroom to provide convenient, easy, and reliable access to cutting edge knowledge and communities of practice. More than forty-five e-Learning courses address complex real-world problems in priority areas such as governance, health, cities, climate change, and public private partnerships. Learners also have access to free monthly podcasts and webinars, video success stories, multimedia toolkits, and other resources. source…

Get $100K to Reduce the World’s Sh!ts or Other Global Health Idea

Show Us a Great Idea, We’ll Show You $100,000

$100,000 Grants Available for New Ideas to: Encourage The World’s Poorest People to Seek Health Care, Develop a New Condom, and  Reduce Diarrhea, One of the Biggest Killers of Children on the Planet

 press release

SEATTLE, September 5, 2013 – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is accepting applications for the latest  of its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, a ground-breaking grant program encouraging bold approaches aimed at improving the lives of the world’s poorest people. The simple, online, two-page application is open to creative thinkers from any discipline or any organization.

“We continue to push for a regular stream of fresh ideas to help overcome persistent health and development challenges,” said Chris Wilson, Director of Global Health Discovery & Translational Sciences at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  “Innovative thinking fuels the progress needed to overcome obstacles the world faces to pull people out of poverty.”

Grand Challenges Explorations encourages proposals from individuals or groups with anything to offer, from anywhere in the world, and seeks to uncover cross-discipline approaches. Since its launch in 2008, the program has funded more than 850 grants in 50 countries.

To learn more about the topics in this round, visit www.grandchallenges.org. Proposals are being accepted through November 12, 2013.

The Gates Foundation and an independent group of reviewers selects the most promising proposals, and grants will be awarded within approximately four months from the proposal submission deadline. Initial grants are $100,000 each. Projects demonstrating potential will have the opportunity to receive additional funding up to $1 million.

###

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health with vaccines and other lifesaving tools and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to significantly improve education so that all young people have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. To learn more, visit www.gatesfoundation.org. You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and our blog www.impatientoptimists.org.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

206-709-3400

media@gatesfoundation.org

follow @GatesPress

Untapped Potential for Water and Sanitation Services for the World’s Poor

PRESS RELEASE

Study Reveals Large, Untapped Potential for Water and Sanitation Services for the World’s Poor

Developing countries’ own private sector can provide critically-needed services

WASHINGTON, August 29, 2013 – Many of the poorest, un-served people in developing countries, for whom public water and sanitation services are out of reach, could increasingly rely on service provision through the domestic private sector.  A new report today released by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) finds that this will not only improve their livelihoods but is also an enormous market potential which waits to be tapped.

Today, 2.5 billion people lack access to sanitation and at least 780 million people lack access to safe drinking water.  Global estimates of economic losses from the lack of access to water and sanitation are estimated at US$260 billion every year.

“The public sector alone cannot meet this massive challenge; if we want to end extreme poverty by 2030 and boost shared prosperity for the bottom 40%, we will have to scale up water and sanitation access,” said WSP Manager Jae So.  “And to do that, both the public and private sector will need to work together.”

One of the most striking findings of Tapping the Markets: Opportunities for Domestic Investments in Water and Sanitation for the Poor, is the enormous market potential. Focusing only on Bangladesh, Benin, and Cambodia, about 20 million people are projected to obtain their water from rural piped water schemes by 2025. That is 10 times the current number, a market worth at least US$90 million a year. On the sanitation side, there is a potential US$700 million Bottom of the Pyramid market in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Peru, and Tanzania.  The current total market for improved on-site sanitation services in these four countries is estimated to be worth US$2.6 billion.

“How to meet the growing demand for these services from poor communities through the domestic private sector is not straight forward,” said Laurence Carter, Director of IFC’s Public Private Partnerships Transaction Advisory Services. “But private firms have an incredible market opportunity to serve the base of the pyramid, which makes up the largest percentage of the population in these countries. This can not only yield significant development impacts, but also potential profits and sustainable businesses.”

he results of the study offer new solutions to prevent the thousands of daily child deaths and hundreds of billions of dollars in annual economic losses caused by lack of access to water and toilets.  It takes a hard look at the challenges faced in tapping the business opportunities in developing countries by private firms willing to make the commitment to reaching the poorest people.

Three areas of focus that will strengthen the market for sanitation solutions and small-scale, rural and peri-urban water systems include:

• delivering value to customers at affordable prices
• building mutual confidence between the private sector and this market segment
• developing a favorable investment climate

While there is no silver bullet to overcome investment barriers, a number of options are available to address these constraints and build market opportunities.  The report outlines a number of possible solutions, ranging from better understanding of consumer preferences to policy reforms to capacity building for smaller firms that can then invest in poor, rural and peri-urban areas.  As one example, consumers prefer a turn-key sanitation solution, but individual companies typically work on only one part of the puzzle: latrine components, construction, or pit-emptying.  If consumers were offered a “one-stop” shop by firms that also had the financial, business and marketing knowledge to grow their business, the use of these services would expand significantly.

Referring to the proposition that the base of the economic pyramid represents both a market and development opportunity, So said, “This idea that businesses can be part of the solution is an attractive one.  The study takes a hard look at this proposition and asks sobering questions so that we can find answers that could work at scale.”

WSP is a multi-donor partnership created in 1978 and administered by the World Bank to support poor people in obtaining affordable, safe, and sustainable access to water and sanitation services. WSP’s donors include Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, and the World Bank. For more information, please visit www.wsp.org

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. Working with private enterprises in more than 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. In FY13, our investments climbed to an all-time high of nearly $25 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit www.ifc.org

The report will be presented at World Water Week in Stockholm on September 3, 2013.

For a copy of the conference edition, please click below:

Tapping the Market: Opportunities for Domestic Investments in Sanitation for the Poor – 66 page pdf

Tapping the Market: Opportunities for Domestic Investments in Water for the Poor – 64 page pdf

Related articles

• Gates foundation to spur toilet revolution in China (wantchinatimes.com)
• WaterAid to use ‘World Toilet Day’ to highlight Ghana’s sanitation problem (ghanabusinessnews.com)
• The Post 2015 Water Thematic Consultation Report (post2015.org)
• Dilemmas of a Water Funder (pndblog.typepad.com)

half-a-dozen(+) Sanitation infographics – WATSAN /WASH

Here are a half-a-dozen…well 3/4 of a dozen  infographics  on WATSAN/WASH/sanitation

There are more on our Pinterest WATSAN board 

World toilet day poster – UNICEF
Site: Facebook page: http://j.mp/18GyPku

From walk4wells.org – “Water and Women (and Girls!)”
site http://j.mp/18Gx8nl

Reinvent the Toilet (original Gates Foundation link of image not available)
Gates Foundation WASH Site: http://j.mp/18GB5Z4

From The World Poverty Project : Breaking the Taboo of the Loo
Site: http://globalpovertyproject.com/blog/view/671

From emag.suez-environnement.com – Access to water and sanitation
site: http://j.mp/18GEwiA

From Water.org’s Field guide to toilets http://water.org/toiletday/fieldguide/

What Your Poop and Pee Are Telling You About Your Body
Possible origins of graphic :http://j.mp/18GHeEI

From plancanada.ca: From head to toe: anatomy of a girl’s health
Site:http://plancanada.ca/page.aspx?pid=4657

Putting Poop In Its Place: The Problems With Bad Global Sanitation fastcoexist.com http://j.mp/10fjt2U

s

What’s a Toilet Worth? by World Bank & The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) http://wsp.org/

 

When Sanitation Does Not Have Clear Institutional Home or Accountability, Progress Lags: UN Deputy Secretary-General

Deputy Secretary-General DSG/SM/661 DEV/2984

When Sanitation Does Not Have Clear Institutional Home or Accountability, Progress Lags, UN Deputy Secretary-General Tells High-level Panel

——PRESS RELEASE——-

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at a high-level panel on investing in sanitation, in Washington, D.C., 19 April:

I am pleased to see so many familiar faces from last year’s Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting.

Last year we talked about commitments.  Today I want to talk about action. But first let me ask a question recently directed to me by Kate Norgrove of Water Aid.  Have you ever been caught short and wondered where to find a toilet?  Probably a painful or embarrassing moment.  Let us then remember that 2.5 billion people do not have toilets!  This is their daily situation.

In New York, where I live, you will only find public toilets in Central Park.  It is a problem common to most towns and cities.

Recently I was in Addis Ababa.  I visited a small sanitation project called Feyenne in the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis.  Feyenne, which is supported by UNICEF [United Nations Children’s Fund] and the Oromia Bureau of Youth and Sports, is run by three young men who used to live on the streets.  In their small office was a chalk board with one word written on it.  “Sustainability”.

Their approach to sustainability was to tackle the sanitation problem as a business.  They had identified a need, and they had decided to fill it.  The concept was simple — to provide a safe, clean public facility at low cost near the main market.  With money from the toilet project, Feyenne has been able to open additional income generating activities that provide employment opportunities for vulnerable young people.  It is a model that is needed — and replicable.

Sanitation is the Millennium Development Goal on which we have made least progress.  Yet, it is among the most important.  Success on sanitation has a direct bearing on the other Goals, and it will be central to the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.  It is an issue of fundamental human dignity and the health of people and the environment.  Out of the 2.5 billion people without sanitation, more than 1 billion people defecate in the open.

That is why, last month, I launched a call to action for sanitation on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General.  The objective is to galvanize major players to do more by building on two key ongoing initiatives — the United Nations General Assembly Sanitation Drive and the Sanitation and Water for All partnership.  The Sanitation Drive calls on all Member States to intensify efforts and focuses on communication and advocacy.  It is essential to get people to think about and openly discuss sanitation and open defecation.  We need to break the taboos.

The other initiative, Sanitation and Water for All, has over 91 global partners.  Last year I moderated the second Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting held here.  More than 50 ministers attended and some 400 commitments were tabled.  In June, we will have the results of these commitments, with a full report next year.  Heads of State, members of Government and other actors need to know what has been achieved and what remains to be done.

We have already seen the results of some of these commitments.  For example, in Ethiopia, the Government has endorsed a unified water supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.  And in Madagascar the Government has created a Directorate of Sanitation.  Someone is made responsible.

That is one of the problems that has been holding back progress.  Sanitation often does not have a clear institutional home or clear accountability.  In 2014, UNICEF and the World Bank will convene the third Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting.  I look forward to registering progress and new commitments.

There are three things we can do to speed up progress on sanitation.  First, we can scale up the projects that work.  Simple, affordable action has already proved its worth.  Between 1990 and 2010, about 1.8 billion people gained access to sanitation — a significant achievement.  Many countries have tackled this problem within a generation.  They have shown that we can achieve our targets.

Second, we must speed up the elimination of open defecation — country by country, community by community, family by family.  We need to ensure that everyone has access to a clean and safe toilet.  We need to change attitudes and generate demand.  We need to talk about the problem, not turn our heads.

And finally, we need to strengthen cooperation and boost investment.  The cost of poor sanitation can be counted both in human lives and lost productivity.  According to a study undertaken for the Water and Sanitation Programme and the World Bank, inadequate sanitation costs the Indian economy an estimated $53.8 billion a year, equivalent to 6.4 per cent of GDP [gross domestic product].  On the other hand, we know that every dollar spent on water and sanitation can bring a five-fold return.  The economic benefits for developing countries are estimated at $260 billion a year.

The public sector has major stake to play.  But, the private sector also has a major stake.  There is a considerable market — millions of customers need an essential service.  Opportunities abound for everyone from multinationals to local entrepreneurs.  If we all do our part, we can achieve substantial results.  So, let us commit now to provide adequate sanitation and safe water for all and stop open defecation — so that women and girls can live with dignity; so that our children can survive and communities can thrive.

Investing in sanitation is a win-win proposition — ensuring that millions of people can live productive lives, the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved and healthy societies can be built.  There are only winners if we all mobilize.  Nobody can do everything — but everybody can do something.  Thank you.  

source …

video of his speech:“A Matter of Life: Investing in Sanitation – a Conversation with Jan Eliasson, Tony Lake, & Global Decision-Makers”

 

Related articles

• Jan Eliasson: Everyone Needs a Place to Go (huffingtonpost.com)
• Pakistan pays heavily for poor sanitation, says UN (dawn.com)
• U.N.: Global lack of toilet, latrine access a “silent disaster” (cbsnews.com)
• New Sanitation Figures Compete with Official UN Statistics: 6 in 10 Lack Proper Facilities (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
• UN seeks to end toilet ‘taboo’ (dawn.com)

new study: Social Factors Impacting Use of EcoSan in Rural Indonesia

The  Social Factors Impacting Use of EcoSan in Rural Indonesia report came out in June 2010.

The Study Starts of stating the fact that “Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) 2010 data indicate that around 38% of the rural population has access to improved sanitation services and that open defecation remains a widespread practice for over 60 million Indonesians. ”

With  a majority of Indonesia being  Muslims the study include a a look at Muslim teaching on the subject of sanitation.  “The study objective was to identify the social, religious, cultural and gender-related factors  which influence rural people’s attitudes towards urine and excreta-based fertilizers in general and the EcoSan urine diversion system in particular.  It doe not pretend to be anything but a modest study: ” the study does not seek to be a comprehensive reflection of the whole of Indonesia. Instead, it provides a preliminary assessment of attitudes towards EcoSan, and identifi es some key drivers and inhibitors…” It survey 350 people in 5 out of 33 provinces included Muslims, Christians and respondents with traditional
beliefs. Four producers and retailers of excreta and urine based fertilizer were also identifi ed and interviewed.

One of the key finding  come in this paragraph:

“The study data show that this is not only a Muslim religious objection,
but that Christians also consider it difficult to keep the excreta dry by not
using water above the disposal hole. While the percentage of Muslims who
considered it difficult to keep the disposal hole dry was fairly constant, the
percentage of Christians who felt this way varied from 35% in Kulon Progo,
Central Java to 78% in East Sumba. This confirms the assumption that
use of water for cleansing, where available, is also an Indonesian cultural
behavior that inhibits the use of a toilet system requiring dry storage. ”

The study reports  the researchers’  findings that  more than “…80% of the respondents are willing to use urine or feces-based fertilizer.” The report goes on to say  a similar number are willing to consume products from  the fields using compost based fertilizer.  The hard part,  the study  states,  is only 50% of the people surveyed are will to to be involved in processing  the urine and feces to make the compost.  (I would like to know how this  compares to other locations around the world 50%  Seems high-  a positive rather than negative –  )

The study goes on to look at the roles/ potential roles  men and women of a family unit have on

• selecting fertilizer for crops, and for selection installing,toilets for the family.
• selecting toilets  installing them  and composting waste from them.

The conclusions are complex.  Hopefully organizations that want to just plop down ecosan units all  anywhere in the will carefully read this  short but informative report in its entirety. We must truly understand  the people, if  we / they are to have success  with  ecosan or any other viable alternative!

Report Sections

INTRODUCTION: ECOSAN IN INDONESIA

• Background
• Objective of the Study
• Consideration of EcoSan as a Sanitation Option
• Methodology

DEMAND FOR ORGANIC FERTILIZER EXISTS  ACROSS RELIGIONS AND REGIONS

• Excreta-based fertilizers are still a sensitive issue for some

RESERVATIONS ABOUT USING ECOSAN TOILETS

• Gender Differences

IS HUMAN EXCRETA-BASED FERTILIZER NAJIS?

CONCLUSIONS

Publishing Agency:

The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) “…a multi-donor partnership administered by the World Bank to support poor people in obtaining affordable, safe and sustainable access to water and sanitation services.”

Editors/Authors/ Researchers:

The research was carried out by Entin Sriani Muslim assisted by Ana Nurhasanah in 2009. This learning
note was co-authored by Martin Albrecht, Isabel Blackett, and Ikabul Arianto and peer reviewed by
Eduardo Perez and Jeremy Colin.

Document type Pdf  with search-able  / selectable text. 4 pages  Includes images and graphs

new reprort Financing On-Site Sanitation for the Poor

Financing On-Site  Sanitation for the Poor A Six Country Comparative Review and Analysis

is Available From WSP Water and Sanitation Program is 174 page pdf doc dated January 2010

On-Site Sanitation for the Poor

“The study was written by Sophie Trémolet (independent consultant) under the leadership and guidance of Eddy Perez (Water and Sanitation Program – WSP) and Pete Kolsky (World Bank)…”

It starts with a quick overview of current conditions quoting from a variety of existing publications:

“…sanitation costs the economies of four Southeast Asian countries the equivalent of approximately 2 percent of their GDP…”

“In the six countries described in this study, the capital cost of household sanitation varied between US$17 and US$568, costs which often exceeded half the annual household income of the poor in the respective project areas.”

They go on to say ” The challenges of fnance – the practical decisions about who pays how much for what, when, and how – thus lie at the heart of the world’s eforts to promote health, dignity, and a cleaner environment through sanitation. Yet despite the importance of the topic, past eforts to gather meaningful data on sanitation fnance have largely failed.”   Thus, the study.

The 6 cases studies are:

• Bangladesh DISHARI – based on Community Led Total Sanitation CTLS
  • rural areas
  • Basic latrines
  • 1,630,733 people
  • 2004 to 2008
• Ecuador  – PRAGUAS
  • rural areas
  • Sanitation units (toilet, septic tank, sink, shower)
  • 143,320 people
  • 2001 to 2006
• Maharashtra (India) – Total Sanitation Campaign   (TSC) using CLTS approaches
  • rural areas
  • Improved latrines
  • 21,200,417 people
  • July 2000 to November 2008
• Mozambique – Improved Latrines Program (PLM) –
  • urban areas
  • Improved latrines
  • 1,887,891 people
  • 1980 to 2007
• Sénégal- PAQPUD –
  • urban areas
  • improved latrines to septic tanks
  • 410,507 people
  • 2002 to 2005
• Vietnam – Sanitation Revolving Fund SRF
  • urban areas
  • Mostly bathrooms and septic tanks
  • 193,670 people
  • 2001 to 2008

According to the study they address:

•  How much does provision of access to on-site sanitation cost, that is, once all costs (hardware and soft-
ware) are taken into account?
•  Do the type and scale of sanitation subsidy afect provision and uptake? How?
•  How can the public sector most efectively support household investment in on-site sanitation?
•  Should it be via investment in demand stimulation, subsidies to households or suppliers, by support to
credit schemes, or by other means?
•  Should hardware subsidies be provided or should public spending be focused on promoting demand or supporting the supply side of the market? Where hardware subsidies are adopted, what is the best way
to ensure that they reach their intended recipients and are sustainable and scalable?

•  What innovative mechanisms (such as credit or revolving funds) can be used to promote household sanitation fnancing?

Evaluation criteria:

1. “Impact on sustainable access  to services: Did the project contribute to increasing access to sanitation? “
2. “Costs: Are the costs of the resulting sanitation facilities reasonable and affordable to the beneficiaries?”
3. “Effectiveness in the use of public funds: Were public funds used in a way that maximized impact? “
4. “Poverty targeting: Did the program seek to target the poor and was the program effective at doing so?”
5. “Financial sustainability:    Could the financial approach be sustained over time without external support?”
6. “Scalability:    Could the fnancial approach be scaled up to cover those who are not yet covered in the
   country at a reasonable cost?”

The Key finding explored in detail in the study are

1. “Taken together, the case studies make a compelling case that partial public funding can trigger signifcantly increased access to household sanitation. “
2. “The studies show that the most relevant question is not “Are subsidies good or bad?” but rather “How best can we invest public funds?” “
3. “The diferent fnancing strategies adopted had a profound infuence, for better or for worse, on equity, scale, sustainability, levels of service, and costs.”
4. “Households are key investors in on-site sanitation, and careful project design and implementation can maximize their involvement, satisfaction, and fnancial investment…”
5. “Hardware subsidies of some form played a critical role in all six case studies. “
6. “Subsidy targeting methods need to be tailored to country circumstances.  “
7. “The provision of hardware subsidies on an output basis rather than an input basis can be efective at stimulating demand and leveraging private investment.”
8. All of the case studies included a signifcant publicly funded software component (promotion and community mobilization).

Related:

Gates Foundation steps up water efforts with grant to improve sanitation

The challenges of financing sanitation

Ethiopia – Effective financing of local governments to provide water and sanitation services

Innovations in Financing Urban Water & Sanitation