Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Because providing sanitation for low-income consumers is rarely viewed as a profitable business opportunity, people who want a toilet often can’t get one. PSI engages the private sector to demonstrate the market opportunity and supports businesses to introduce profitable sanitation products and services into their offering. Through demand aggregation and introduction of better products, PSI also works to engage higher capacity, larger business that can bring sanitation to scale. And through helping businesses formalize and improve business practices, we help entrepreneurs grow and reach more customers.

Microfinance institutions rarely develop loan products for families to purchase toilets, as they do not contribute to an income generating activity. Moreover, loans are also usually unavailable for service providers, who are largely small, informal businesses. This lack of access to finance inhibits growth of the supply and demand side of markets. PSI works with customers and entrepreneurs to qualify for loans and with microfinance institutions to develop sanitation loan products.

In some places, even people who have toilets in their homes do not use them. This is particularly true for men, who are often comfortable defecating in the open. PSI develops and executes behavior change campaigns to increase use of toilets by all members of the family.

In most places, the majority of rural consumers have either built their own toilets using local materials or been given a subsidized toilet through a donor or government-funded project. As a result, they are not aware of or have never been offered a desirable toilet that they can afford to buy. Through direct door-to-door sales, PSI increases awareness of new and better toilet solutions and connects them directly to service providers.

While the private sector provides a huge percentage of sanitation services, from toilet solutions to septic tank emptying, the companies are usually informal and not acknowledged by the government as a critical part of the sanitation economy. As a result, there are often policies in place that make it difficult for sanitation entrepreneurs to succeed, such as expensive fees to use treatment facilities. PSI advocates with governments to remove these barriers and proactively engage the private sector as critical partners in solving the sanitation crisis.

PSI has drawn on its global expertise in social franchising and marketing to develop a unique public toilet franchise in Ethiopia. This business offers safer, more convenient and more hygienic toilet and shower facilities than provided by other public toilet operators, including the government. These public toilets provide a critical service to people living in urban areas, without access to household toilets.