Looking at product development and where micro-credit at the household level has been successful, a number of interesting ideas are emerging in the WSSCC LinkedIn CoP that I’d like to cross post on this forum.

For product development, consistency in product quality through the use of local materials and efforts to enforce policies and standards have to be adopted. Though government regulation was acknowledged as difficult at this level but necessary given the public good functions of water and sanitation services, government could support enterprises that contribute to poverty eradication with potential tax exemptions or funding support for rural coverage, guidance on distribution mechanisms, and marketing support to enhance uptake. With the view stated from one participant that demand creation is the principle function of local government, how do we build key capacity of entrepreneurs?

With little competition in nascent markets and infrequent service requirements, small business owners may not make the connection between poor customer service and unhelpful business outcomes (through a lack of customer retention). That said, user / customers should ideally be aware of what to look for and how to verify product quality within the conditions of access to water, local materials, technical guidance, etc. This may obviously require a fair bit of support.

Further thoughts welcomed.

One topic the private sector is very innovative, is non-traditional marketing i.e. not so much bill boards and advertisements, but placing products in popular culture. Think for example how locally produced tele-novellas could regularly place scenes around desirable bathrooms etc. (as subliminal messages).

That's true but the bigger picture is; there is a great correlation between willingness and ability to pay. In circumstances where willingness is high but the ability is low then one needs to work on the product (make it accessible, affordable)..... Where the ability is high and the willingness is low then the challenge is more or less with the promotion

in my view assessing willingness to pay on the customer side and factors associated is very crucial to now the demand on the customer side. and for the agressive envolvment of the private sector on sanitation and hygiene the atractive market environment should be assessed. and the government, ofcourse the led part should make conducive and regulatory role should play on.

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to welcome you to this first of three weeks of online discussions on Private sector engagement in sanitation and hygiene: Exploring roles across the sanitation chain. Jointly sponsored by the WSSCC and SuSanA, we hope to make the most of bringing together the SuSanA Forum and the WSSCC LinkedIn Community of Practice. Our sub-topic for this week (26 October - 1 November) is raising demand for sanitation and hygiene services, focusing on working with the private sector to raise demand through sanitation marketing and financing options including access to household credit, financing for local entrepreneurs or via other means. (Week two will focus on private sector roles in meeting demand at the household level through toilet construction and emptying, and then week three will focus on engaging private sector further along the sanitation chain in transport, disposal and reuse.)

Our Co-Leads for this week’s discussions are Lillian Mbeki and Amaka Godfrey.

With 15 years experience, Lillian is a social marketing and private sector development consultant, currently working on assignments with WSP/World Bank and the GSF program in Kenya. She worked as an adviser at SNV Netherlands specifically supporting the national rural sanitation and water supply system interventions. She has been involved in the development of sanitation marketing programs in Kenya and in rolling out the pilot in 4 counties. Lillian also currently serves as a technical advisor supporting the Kenyan Ministry of Health in social marketing and behavior change communications for the national sanitation and hygiene program.

Her career spans 15 years in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, marketing and strategy, community development, business, and consulting. Lillian is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) UK and Kenya. She holds two Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Health Management. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Business Administration from Edinburgh Business School - Herriot Watt University, UK.

Amaka has a Masters in Water and Environmental Management and a PhD from Loughborough University, UK. Her PhD research was on Small Independent Providers of sanitation in low income urban communities. She has over 20 years of international experience in sanitation, hygiene promotion and water supply in low-income countries in various roles including programme implementation, consultancy, technical advisory, applied research, and learning and teaching. She has considerable experience in urban sanitation planning and project implementation in various countries including more than 10 Anglophone and Lusophone Africa.

Amaka currently works part time with the Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), Loughborough University, UK in teaching, research, and consultancy. She also works part-time as an independent consultant for various organizations, advising and building capacity to develop and implement urban and rural sanitation marketing, hygiene promotion, establishment of sanitation business models including small independent providers of sanitation services, faecal sludge management and utility sanitation connection plans for low-income urban settlements.


Introduction

Sanitation and hygiene interventions have the objective of ending open defecation and enabling access to safe sanitation by households. This is reflected in the SDG target 6.2 which aims to “achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030”.

Sanitation marketing is applicable to both rural and urban settings and combines a behaviour change communication component to encourage the adoption of improved and hygienic latrines with a commercial component for developing the right products and services for consumers that are accessible to households at affordable price points.

Sanitation marketing therefore requires strong partnerships and coordination of various government departments, development partners, entrepreneurs and financiers with households/consumers at the centre.

In our discussions this week, we are keen to explore forum members’ insights and experiences on the following:

Considering the SDG target 6.2, how can sanitation marketing approaches be designed most effectively to increase the percentage of populations using safely managed sanitation services in urban and rural settlements? What are appropriate roles for the local private sector in supporting these efforts?

Experience and formative marketing research has shown that households do not prioritise sanitation financing. How do we structure micro-credit financing to make it attractive for households to take small loans for sanitation?

In both rural and urban settings, how do we best link CLTS and sanitation marketing in practice and what sequencing of interventions is required?

What approaches to finance can help low-income urban settlements to access safely managed sanitation services? What are the enablers and barriers to this?

We look forward to constructive discussions over the course of the week.
With best regards –
Ken, Amaka and Lillian

Suggested reading for Week 1 on Raising Demand for Sanitation and Hygiene:
www.unicef.org/wash/files/6._Sanitation_..._Training_Module.pdf
www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/publicat...uncil-Flyer-FY13.pdf
www.snvworld.org/en/countries/kenya/publ...itation-products-and
www.sanitationmarketing.com/