Progress so far ... Sanitation Service Delivery Program (PSI with PATH and WSUP, funded by USAID) - Ghana, Ivory Coast and Benin

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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: Sucess Story : Sani Plus: a new field of possibility for Tibus Kouassi


Engineer in Building and Public Works techniques, Tibus Kouadio is the Managing Director of a construction service company. With a staff of 25 employees, he designs architectural plans, carries out technical feasibility studies and supervises construction sites.
Indeed, business was going well enough for him. One of the projects he carried out provided him with nearly 20 million in profits. Suddenly, everything stopped. Markets have become increasingly rare.

A set of difficulties that led him to the crisis forcing him to lay off to keep only 5 positions. Unable to bear the maintenance costs, Tibus is also forced to resell the 4 public transport vehicles he owned.
As part of market development activities, the USAID-funded Sanitation Service Delivery Project (SSD) is working with city councils to establish a supply chain. The objective of the project is to train and engage the private sector to provide sanitation services to low-income households through commercial provision. "Sani Plus" is a brand of quality and low-cost sanitation products created by the project.
Going to Abobo City Hall for an administrative formality, Tibus discovers on a bulletin board, the call for proposals of the SSD project to recruit VSEs interested in sanitation marketing. "I thought to myself why not try," he said.

A few months after his training on the construction of Sani Plus sanitation products, Tibus said he was impressed by the level of quality with which the works are carried out. For him, the process used to make a lost well with concrete nozzles is quite innovative.
A rigorous worker, respecting the quality standards of the Sani Plus brand, Tibus has begun to make a name for itself in the sanitation marketing sector. He was doing more and more works. Although the revenues generated by the sale of Sani Plus products were quite lower than the costs of building large real estate projects, Tibus did not give up.

"I would rather earn a little bit every day than win big once and have nothing left after that," he continues. This''Sani Plus'' contractor currently has at least 115 sanitation facilities (toilets, septic tanks and cesspools) built in the municipality of Abobo. This generated a turnover of more than eleven million CFA francs. In addition, Tibus has created a second company exclusively dedicated to the Sani Plus sanitation products business. This company employs 7 full-time young graduates whose salaries are financed through the sale of sanitation products.

According to him, the money generated by the sale of Sani Plus sanitation products is very useful to him. "Often I take Sani Plus' money to do bidding on public contracts, and that helps me a lot," concluded Tibus Kouadio.
Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire
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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: Sharing Experience : know how SatoPan and Double Pit latrine works !

USAIDssd wrote: Do you know how a SatoPan works? 🤔🤔🤔Ah ahhhhhhh ! Do you also know how a double-well latrine works? 🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂♂️🏃♂ Don't panic 😂😂😂 This is the opportunity to discover it in this 2min video #Sanitation #USAIDFundedProjet #SSD

Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire

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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: Sharing Experience : know how SatoPan and Double Pit latrine works !

Do you know how a SatoPan works? 🤔🤔🤔Ah ahhhhhhh ! Do you also know how a double-well latrine works? 🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂♂️🏃♂ Don't panic 😂😂😂 This is the opportunity to discover it in this 2min video #Sanitation #USAIDFundedProjet #SSD

Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire

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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: SSD Entrepreneur Success Story in BENIN

Ismaël and the Mimin brand: Journey from Lost Hope to Pride



Cap on head and wearing a bright blue WC Mimin vest, Ismaël Amouh is proud to stand in front of his new work tool. A beautiful mustard-colored van, which he acquired thanks to the profits generated by the sale of sanitation products, WC Mimin latrines.
As trained sanitary plumber, Ismaël Amouh, 64, is a father of three children. Before finding Minin, he alternated between digging pits and plumbing jobs to pay his daily expenses. His monthly income was around 150,000 CFA francs.

During an awareness campaign of the SSD team in Apro-Missérété municipality in Benin, Ismaël discovered WC Mimin latrines. Mimin (meaninin 'clean' in the local language in Benin) are toilets that manually flush with two alternating offset pits and a seated user interface that includes a SATO pan. This improved latrine eliminates odors, andkeeps away flies and other insects that spread disease. Its target market is low-income households living in urban and peri-urban areas in Benin.
After Ismaël received training by the project team, SSD immediately started producing Mimin latrines and offering a new product to his customers. "When they understood that with Mimin brand products (defecation jar and Mimin toilet), there is no smell and insects, customers started to grow in numbers," said Ismaël.

Having only started with five workers, Ismaël has now grown his business to hire 20 workers to meet the high demands of his customers. He produces an average of 70 sitting latrines (defecation pots) per week. Today, his activities generate a monthly income of 350,000 CFA francs, "Thanks to WC MIMIN, I was able to buy a vehicle that is also a communication channel for me, because I have put up WC MIMIN posters and everywhere I go people come to get information from me" said Ismaël.
To date, Ismaël Amouh has 25 stores where he exhibits his products. Equipped with a loudspeaker and a microphone, he organizes promotional activities to offer his products directly to households.

Minmin is a brand of sanitation products and services that corresponds to a quality label at affordable prices. This brand was created as part of the Sanitation Services Delivery (SSD) project activities. Funded by USAID, and implemented by Population Services International, this project aims to catalyze the private sector to provide quality and affordable sanitation products and services to low-income households living in the urban areas of Benin and Côte d'Ivoire.
Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire
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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: Lesson Learned from Sanitation Entrepreneur Selection in Côte d'Ivoire



Would you like to know how the SSD project funded by #USAID managed to recruit micro entrepreneurs in Sanitation? Discover the successes and learn from the failures of this approach? The attached document will certainly interest you. #Sanitation #KnowledgeManagement #KM #LessonsLearned #Share_experience #Accesstotoilet #TetraTech

Click on the link below to see more

- English Version

- French version
Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire
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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: Paul Kpadonou: From Roadside Salesman to Millionaire Entrepreneur

Thank you for your support ! here is another picture of Paul !

Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire
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Re: Paul Kpadonou: From Roadside Salesman to Millionaire Entrepreneur

Hi Olivier,

Thanks for sharing this success story of Paul KPADONOU, the successful toilet entrepreneur! We don't often hear from people working in Benin or Ivory Coast so I really appreciate your updates.

Do you have some photos of Paul's successful toilets? I am curious what it looks like. Paul said:

“I took the Sato pan and thought about how to adapt it to the defecation pot. And that's how I made a toilet with a colorful tile design, along with the rings and the slabs.”


Just as an aside: the photo of Paul on his motor bike with trailer and pipes looks very "this is Africa"... and dangerous to me! :ohmy:

See you,
Elisabeth
Dr. Elisabeth von Muench
Freelance consultant on environmental and climate projects
Located in Ulm, Germany
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My Wikipedia user profile: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:EMsmile
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elisabethvonmuench/

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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: Paul Kpadonou: From Roadside Salesman to Millionaire Entrepreneur



Mr. Paul KPADONOU is a contractor of sanitation products in Benin. He became a hugely successful businessman, earning millions of West African Francs per year, through the sale of materials that he uses to manufacture and install the WC Mimin, a type of latrine developed as part of the USAID-funded Sanitation Service Delivery (SSD) project. This project aims to improve access to sanitation products and services across urban areas in Benin through the private sector.

Paul Kpadonou, a young entrepreneur living in the Aboney-Calayi commune of Benin, has always dreamed of becoming a risk-taking and successful businessman. At 30 years old, Paul began his business career selling fencing materials and garden decorations on the side of the highway in the Glo-Yèkondo district.

During a promotional campaign for the WC Mimin brand held in his neighborhood, Paul learned about the unique value of high-quality latrines. Seeking to expand his professional experience and excited by the prospect of helping to improve the health of his community, Paul proactively reached out to the WC Mimin entrepreneurs to learn more about their work and to enroll in a training session.
He quickly became an expert in the construction of WC Mimin toilets – manual flush latrines coupled with two alternative-use offset pits. He learned how to build a toilet seat embedded with a plastic SATO pan, a product with a flap that creates a water seal with the pit, thereby eliminating odors and insects.
But Paul was determined to use his creativity to develop a brand-new product that would appeal to a wider range of consumers. Borrowing a concrete ring mold and the WC Mimin manufacturing manual from a fellow entrepreneur, he experimented with the materials to create his own molds for seaten position toilets.

“I took the Sato pan and thought about how to adapt it to the defecation pot. And that's how I made a toilet with a colorful tile design, along with the rings and the slabs.”

Paul’s expertise and passion for the product convinced the SSD project team to collaborate with him. After he successfully completing the WC Mimin training session, Paul was introduced to new customers by the SSD project’s Community Sanitation Advisors, responsible for promoting the WC Mimin brand and connecting clients to contractors.
Paul then devised a plan to build a WC Mimin in his home to serve as a model to show his customers and neighbors that he was not only a manufacturer, but also a user. As more and more curious members of the community visited Paul’s home to see his fully operational WC Mimin, orders quickly began rolling in. Within four days, he had built and installed toilets in multiple homes.
But his ingenuity didn’t stop there. In addition to manufacturing and installing the WC Mimin in his own home, Paul added a hand washing station, creating a “one stop sanitation shop.” Visitors were able to observe the full package of fully operational WC Mimin products.
Faced with increasing demand for sanitation products, Paul expanded his business by establishing five production and sales sites and hiring four masons. An efficient and dedicated entrepreneur, Paul is able to manufacture quality concrete rings, tiles, and defecation pots at a competitive price, generating a net profit of nearly twice the amount he earned by selling fencing materials alone.
In addition to the first store he opened, Paul now has 5 new stores where he sells the sanitation products he makes – 3 in Abomey Calavi and 2 in the municipality of Alada. To ensure he can reliably fill customer orders, he now employs 20 full-time assistants. To expand its sales network, Paul also established a relationship with 25 hardware stores where he displays his products for customers. Since beginning work with SSD, Paul has sold more than saying he has sold more than 1380 WC Mimin toilet products. In addition to managing his business, Paul regularly joins the SSD field team to educate community members about WC Mimin and to recruit potential clients.
After 18 months of activity with the SSD project, Paul generated a turnover of more than 60 million West African Francs and a profit margin of more than 11 million.
Proud to have reached the forefront of innovation, client satisfaction, and entrepreneurial success, Paul shared some of his key secrets to success:
 Always be friendly and welcoming with customers
 Keep substantial stocks of the necessary building materials for the WC Mimin
 Use high-quality sand and cement to ensure the strength of nozzles and slabs
 Remain actively involved in the marketing and sales activities and target homeowners without toilets
The sale of WC Mimin products has shown to be an effective strategy for invigorating the sanitation market, inspiring new entrepreneurs, and improving health in Benin. Through specialized training, high-quality products, and the commitment and ingenuity of entrepreneurs like Paul, the SSD project has helped to attract more and more clients seeking improved latrines and to expand the market for sanitation products in Benin
Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire
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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: Learning document ''Ensure the Quality of Sanitation Products During Project Scale-up''

we are proud to share with you a french and english version of a Learning document made by SSD on the pathway to ''Ensure the Quality of Sanitation Products During Project Scale-up'

Introduction
Achieving universal access to basic sanitation has been out of reach, largely due to the lack of affordable, high-quality, and accessible toilet options available to consumers.

To address this challenge, the USAID-funded Sanitation Service Delivery Project (SSD) uses a market-based approach to optimize the design of sanitation solutions and reduce the cost of pour-flush double-pit latrines, marketed as the ‘‘WC Mimin’’ brand. In its fourth and fifth years, the project has been scaling up product sales through private sector actors, with a focus on ensuring the quality of pre-fabricated toilet components and installation.


Click below to download the files (English and French version available)

English version

French version
Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire

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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: SSD tests the integrity of sanitation facilities constructed for households in year 5 of implementation


The SSD project recently conducted integrity tests of toilets and sanitation systems built by micro-contractors over two years ago. In Abidjan, this test was carried out in the municipality of Yopougon where the first sanitation facilities were constructed. This test involved eight structures including septic tanks and soak away pits and concluded that the septic tanks were filling normally.

The walls were still intact, with a good distribution of sludge in the compartments. As for the soak away pits, the test confirmed the initial hypothesis, namely, a good infiltration of the overflow from the septic tank into the ground, with intact concrete rings as they were installed. However, the water level in the pits was too high, which showed that the infiltration area must be increased. Improvements to the design are now being incorporated.

In Benin, SSD project technical team conducted a survey of 18 users of Mimin latrines to check the level of pit filling in the municipalities of Abomey-Calavy and Porto Novo. At the end of the survey, it was found that only 35% of the pit for double pit latrines were filled after two years of use, which is a good level. 94% of the customers visited during this survey said they were satisfied with the use of the WC Mimin.

BENIN/CÔTE D’IVOIRE : SSD teste l’intégrité des ouvrages d’assainissement réalisés au bénéfice des ménages au cours de l’année 5 de la mise en œuvre

Après plus de 2 ans d’utilisation, le projet SSD a effectué des tests d’intégrité dans le but de vérifier la conformité de la proposition de valeur sur les ouvrages d’assainissement réalisés par les micro entrepreneurs partenaires au sein des ménages clients. Dans la ville d’Abidjan, ce test a été réalisé dans une commune, notamment la commune de Yopougon où le projet a vu ses premiers ouvrages réalisés. Le test a concerné huit ouvrages comprenant des fosses septiques et des puits d’infiltration.

Au terme du test il a été conclu que les fosses septiques réalisées se remplissaient effectivement après au moins deux ans d’utilisation.

Les parois des murs étaient toujours intactes, avec une bonne répartition des boues selon les compartiments. Quant aux puits perdus, leur observation après deux ans d’utilisation confirme l’hypothèse de départ à savoir, une bonne infiltration du trop-plein d’eau provenant de la fosse septique dans le sol, avec des buses en béton intactes que lors de leur pose. Cependant, après les deux ans d’utilisation, le niveau d’eau dans le puits était de 90 cm sur 210 cm, cela montre qu’il faut augmenter la surface d’infiltration. Ce test démontre que le système doit être amélioré.

Au Bénin, l’équipe technique du projet SSD a réalisé un sondage auprès de 18 utilisateurs des latrines Mimin pour vérifier le niveau de remplissage des fosses dans les communes d’Abomey-Calavy et de Porto Novo. A l’issue de l’enquête, il a été constaté un niveau de remplissage des latrines à doubles fosses à hauteur de 35% après deux ans d’utilisation par un ménage. 94% des clients visité lors de cette enquête ont déclaré être satisfaits de l’utilisation des WC Mimin.
Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire
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  • USAIDssd
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  • SSD is a sanitation program funded by USAID, which aims to create sustainable sanitation market for the urban poor in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. This market will elicit a demand for sanitation services and a reliable supply of high-quality sanitation products and services.
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Re: Paul Kpadonou: From Roadside Salesman to Millionaire Entrepreneur

Our manual flush toilets are connected to two leaking and alternating use infiltration pits. It is actually a wet system using manual flushing (squat slab or seat) and double pits, which collects partially digested humus-like material from the pit. Humus can be used after other treatments for soil improvement. It is a system suitable for peri-urban areas where the land can absorb black water (faeces, urine and anal cleansing water) continuously and appropriately. Since the black water from the double pit infiltrates directly into the surrounding farms lands, this system should only be installed when the free surface of the groundwater table is deep and not likely to be contaminated by the pits. It is therefore quite a sustainable sanitation system if the conditions for implementation are met.
Learning and Communication Manager SSD|PSI Côte d’Ivoire

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Re: Paul Kpadonou: From Roadside Salesman to Millionaire Entrepreneur

Is scaling up of flush toilets discharging directly into sludge pits actually sustainable sanitation? Or are SSD just not providing sufficient detail to judge this system?
Dean Satchell, M For. Sc.
Vermifilter.com
www.vermifilter.com

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