The World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have released 'Selling Sanitation: Catalyzing the Market for Household Sanitation in Africa,' which explains why sanitation matters, who can benefit from selling sanitation, and the market transformation approach.
December 2013: The World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have released a report, titled ‘Selling Sanitation: Catalyzing the Market for Household Sanitation in Africa.’ The publication explains why sanitation matters, who can benefit from selling sanitation, and the market transformation approach.
The publication is part of the World Bank and WSP’s initiative on ‘Selling Sanitation,’ which assists business developers to improve access to household sanitation products in Africa. It underscores that “low-income households simply do not have access to the right products at the right time for the right price.” According to the WSP, around 600 million people in Africa (70% of the continent’s population) do not have access to a hygienic household latrine. This statistic indicates that sanitation remains “one of the most off-track” Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and a relevant market opportunity for the private sector.
Currently piloted in Kenya, the initiative aims to enlarge the sanitation market in Africa, which remains significantly underexplored, by providing: business development support; targeted consumer awareness; market intelligence; public sector engagement; and pro-poor financing. The publication is complemented by a series of three briefs: ‘Kenya Onsite Sanitation: Market Intelligence,’ ‘Kenya Onsite Sanitation: Demand Generation Strategies,’ and ‘Kenya Onsite Sanitation: Product and Business Model Design.’
In general, for poor households, it is argued that strategies that lower up-front costs, leverage community social pressure and improve consumer awareness of available sanitation options are successful in the sanitation sector. Moreover, these briefs show that Kenya’s market for latrine slabs alone is projected to achieve 1.6 billion KES (USD 19 million) in sales in 2014.
The Selling Sanitation Initiative is supported by Australia, Austria, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US. [Publication: Selling Sanitation: Catalyzing the Market for Household Sanitation in Africa] [Publication: Kenya Onsite Sanitation: Market Intelligence] [Publication: Kenya Onsite Sanitation: Demand Generation Strategies] [Publication: Kenya Onsite Sanitation: Product and Business Model Design] [IFC’s Selling Sanitation Webpage]