Dear all,

On November 3nd 2015, during the Amsterdam International Water Week, took place the workshop "Sarphati Sanitation Awards 2015 and New Finance Models for Urban Sanitation" in which SafiSana was elected as the winner of the Sarphati Sanititation Award 2015 for Young Entrepreneurs and Dr. Kamal Kar, founder of the CLTS (Community Led Total Sanitation) Foundation was awarded with the 2015 Sarphati Sanitation Life Time Achievement Award . Congratulations!

What impact are you creating, for which sectors, and what are the handicaps you are facing? was the question that the four nominees of the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Young Entrepreneurs (FINISH Society, SafiSana, Samagra and ZanaAfrica) and the Dr. Kamal Kar tried to answer during the Workshop. The presentations of the workshop are in the attached file and we hope you enjoy them!

If you want to know more about the Sarphati Sanitation Awards or if you have any further question please send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Warm regards,
Evelyn (on behalf of the SuSanA secretariat)

ZanaAfrica Presentation Sarphati Awards 2015

Dear Forum Members,

From October 20 to October 30 the SuSanA Forum was hosting an online discussion with the 2015 nominees for the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Young Entrepreneurs.

We thank all the members for their great participation!

You can find a summary of the nominees and the discussions in the attachment.
We are really excited who of the four nominees will be the one who is awarded with Sarphati Sanitation Award today!




You are mostly welcome to keep discussing!


Jasmin (on behalf of the SuSanA secretariat)

In reply to John W. Donnelly's post above:

The criteria for the Sarphati nominees cover a broad array of variables and impacts on sanitation and hygiene. Promoting specific toilet technologies is not really the purpose of this award:
internationalwaterweek.com/uploads/2015/...ation-awards-def.pdf

Please let us know of examples of low-flush composting toilets. Composting toilets or toilets that lead to composting steps don't usually have water flushing attributes.

Dear Forum Members,

It is our great pleasure to announce that the SuSanA Forum will be hosting an online discussion with the 2015 nominees for the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Young Entrepreneurs starting tomorrow, October 20 and running until October 30!

What unites the four nominees is their creativity and innovative approaches to finding solutions to the worldwide sanitation problem. We therefore very much welcome the opportunity to hear more about their work, learn from their experiences in setting up their businesses and most importantly give YOU the chance to engage in a discussion with them.

The four nominees are:

FINISH society: Network of organisations, operating in 10 states in India producing one toilet every four minutes by offering households smart finance solutions for the construction of good quality shared or private toilets;

Samagra: Operates toilet blocks in India and stimulates hygienic behavior with a reward system;

ZanaAfrica: Provides adolescent girls in Kenya with sanitary pads so they can stay in school;

SafiSana: Collects toilet- and organic waste from slums in Accra, Ghana, to produce organic fertilizer and biogas.

Starting tomorrow, October 20, each of the nominated organisations will publish an opening post on the Forum, addressing the following guiding questions for this discussion:

- What is your business doing and how did you get started? What was your motivation to start your business?

- How do you work on demand creation?

- What are the biggest challenges in terms of upscaling for you? What is needed to scale up your business?

- What is your aspiration and vision for the future? What are your recommendations for young sanitation entrepreneurs?

The nominees’ opening statements are intended to kick off the discussion and we cordially invite you to pose questions, discuss business approaches, comment on challenges, share your experiences as they relate to the work of the four organisations, ask for and give advice, etc. This is your chance to hear from young sanitation entrepreneurs whose work in India, Kenya and Ghana is making a real difference!

We welcome your questions and comments and will provide a short summary of the discussion ahead of the award ceremony of the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Young Entrepreneurial Sanitation Businesses on November 2.

On Tuesday, November 3, from 14:05 to 15:25, the four nominees will also participate in a workshop during the Amsterdam International Water Week, organised by Aqua for All and SuSanA.

If you can’t make it to the Amsterdam International Water Week, don’t miss your chance to discuss sustainable sanitation solutions with the four aspiring nominees for the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Young Entrepreneurs 2015!

Was there any consideration made for micro flush composting toilets?  John W. Donnelly

Creating innovative solutions to solve the worldwide sanitation problem is what connects the four aspiring nominees for the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Young Entrepreneurs 2015. They are all inspirational examples of how the challenge of providing proper sanitation for everyone can be tackled, simply (Goal #6 of the Sustainable Development Goals) by taking a business approach. On Nov 2nd 2015, Mr. Eberhard van der Laan, Mayor of Amsterdam, will announce the winner of the 2015 Sarphati Sanitation Awards for Young Entrepreneurs as well as the Sarphati Sanitation Life Time Achievement Award.

Sarphati Sanitation Awards 2015

In 2015, the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Young Entrepreneurial Sanitation Businesses will be awarded on November 2nd, during the dinner at the opening ceremony of the Amsterdam International Water Week. At the same time, we decided to install a second award, the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Life Time Achievement. An independent Jury decided to give this Life Time Achievement Award to Dr Kamal Kar, the founder of the CLTS Foundation, for his ongoing and successful efforts to change the unsuccessful practice of constructing subsidized toilets, and replace it by a focus on awareness and knowledge building amongst poor communities with open defecation practice. For the Sarphati Sanitation Award for Young Entrepreneurial Sanitation Businesses, the Jury decided to publicly honour four initiatives, by inviting them to participate in the opening ceremony of the Amsterdam International Water Week, and give them the floor during the Sarphati Sanitation workshop which will be held on Tuesday November 3rd, from 14:05 to 15:25 and is co-organised by SuSanA.

The four nominees are:

FINISH Society: Network of organizations, operating in 10 states in India producing one toilet every four minutes by offering households smart finance solutions for the construction of good quality shared or private toilets;

Samagra: Operates toilet blocks in India and stimulates hygienic behavior with a reward system;

ZanaAfrica: Provides adolescent girls in Kenya with sanitary pads so they can stay in school;

SafiSana: Collects toilet- and organic waste from slums in Accra, Ghana, to produce organic fertilizer and biogas.

Prior to the Sarphati Sanitation workshop, the SuSanA Secretariat will organize a Forum discussion with the four Nominees for this Award which will give you the opportunity to get to know the young entrepreneurial businesses and their innovative business approaches towards sustainable sanitation solutions.

For more information: Hester Foppen This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

And when you now ask yourself - what is the story behin the Sarphati Awards? And who or what is Sarphati? - here are some information that Hester Foppen (Aqua for all) has provided about the life and achievements of Sarphati:

Dr Samuel Sarphati was a health practioner in nineteenth century Amsterdam. He realized that to improve the health of his patients in the many slum areas, things had to change radically. He pledged to take human excreta out of the city, instead of contaminating the houses, the streets and the canals, and causing many health problems like cholera. Everyone applauded the idea, but no one dared to take up the initiative – so Dr Sarphati convinced some funders (‘ friends, family and fools’) and started his own company. After the first year already, the company proved to be profitable and the shareholders received their share, while another part of the profit was transferred to the social fund of the municipality.

This profit was possible because Sarphati composted the waste and reused it as a fertilizer to produce cereals, and with this grain, Sarphati and others started the first industrial bread factory in Amsterdam, producing healthy and affordable bread (to read more see…). This was a big success, but at the same time, Samuel Sarphati publicly admitted that he was not capable, within his means, to change the hygiene behavior of the people. People kept throwing all kind of rubbish in the canals. It would take more time, efforts, preventive - and other measures before Amsterdam had the water quality in its famous canals which nowadays enables the Amsterdam City Swim.

The example of Dr Sarphati formed, in 2013, the inspiration for Waternet (the water operator who provides drinking water and cleans the waters of Amsterdam and environment, and its international foundation World Water Net) and Aqua for All to install the Sarphati Sanitation Award.

In 2013, in was won by Sanergy, for their inspiring business approach on sanitation in Nairobi.