Below is the link to the release of a new USAID desk review prepared under the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS):

Desk Review on Market-Based Rural Sanitation Development Programs

The USAID/WASHPaLS project prepared a desk review that investigates the current state of knowledge in market-based sanitation (MBS) and establishes a framework to analyze, design, and improve MBS interventions. This report is based on a survey of approximately 600 documents on MBS, in-depth research into 13 MBS intervention case studies across the global south, and interviews with sector experts and program personnel.

This review offers a framework that draws upon and contributes to existing evidence across the three crucial challenges to scaling MBS—appropriate product and business model choices, viability of sanitation enterprises, and difficulty of unlocking public and private financing for sanitation. It also helps funders and implementers design, analyze, and improve MBS interventions and offers guidance for stakeholders and governments interested in using sanitation markets to expand sanitation coverage and reduce open defecation. In addition, this review highlights the larger contextual parameters that determine the applicability of MBS within a given market.

This review was made possible by contributions from Rishi Agarwal, Subhash Chennuri, and Aaron Mihaly (FSG); Dr. Jeff Albert (Aquaya); Dr. Mimi Jenkins (University of California, Davis); Morris Israel (Tetra Tech); Hannah Taukobong (Iris Group, Inc.); Elizabeth Jordan and Jesse Shapiro (USAID); and others.