WASTE, Amref Health Africa and Aqua for All sign partnership to make safe sanitation a reality for all by 2030

New Delhi, May 25 2018 – During the Dutch trade mission to India, headed by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a FINISH Mondial partnership agreement between the NGOs WASTE, Amref Health Africa and Aqua for All was signed. The partnership aims to scale safe sanitation for the poor through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), thereby contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 6.

FINISH is a promising approach initiated by WASTE, with ongoing success in India and Kenya that started in 2009 and 2013 respectively. As a result, by 2017 3.1 Million people enjoyed the benefits of safe sanitation thanks to nearly 700,000 toilets and the creation of over 5,000 jobs. This contributes to healthier and economically empowered communities. FINISH has been able to leverage significant local financing for safe sanitation. In India, less than 5 per cent of the initial FINISH funding came from grants.

As an innovative step towards scale, during the mission, a first of its kind Sanitation Impact Bond was launched. Agreements were signed with partners including ACTIAM, KPMG, WASTE, ESAF and Cashpor Micro Credit. Starting with a pilot phase of €5 million, the Bond aims to raise €100 million from institutional investors to build 1.5 million toilets in three years.

This month, the partnership in Kenya celebrates an important milestone of reaching a volume of €5 million in sanitation loans.

“Results achieved in Kenya are promising. We are excited about the ambition of FINISH to expand to other countries”, Michiel Slotema from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, donor of the partnership in Kenya, stated.

The partnership is supported by the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS).

Prime Minister Mark Rutte emphasized: “The basis for success is cooperation between government, private sector and communities to address challenges in the local context. For a comprehensive solution, we need collective action”.

FINISH fosters stakeholders from four domains; communities, government, business and finance to work together in the local context where the approach can be adapted to fit local conditions.

FINISH enables poor households to obtain a safely managed toilet by developing safe sanitation markets for the poor. Through demand creation and sanitation marketing FINISH makes sure people want to buy a durable toilet with safe management of human waste. And that local people build and safely manage the waste from those toilets (through mason training and business support). Further, thanks to FINISH, people can afford safe toilets (through financial inclusion and loans, design improvements and economies of scale).

To scale up results, WASTE, Amref Health Africa and Aqua for All, under the new FINISH Mondial partnership agreement – will expand FINISH in 6 priority countries, including India, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Bangladesh.