Since the coronavirus began spreading throughout the world, few things have been unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our activities to develop markets for WASH products and services are no exception.
Published on: 16/06/2020
We’re all figuring out how to shift and adapt to contribute to the prevention of this deadly virus. Naturally, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are at the centre of these efforts. The USAID Transform WASH team in Ethiopia has learned some important lessons about how to make these shifts and stay true to the central objectives of the project.
Most emergency situations, such as natural disasters, affect WASH markets both negatively and positively. They can disrupt the market supply of WASH products and services, and humanitarian responses that include free distribution of WASH products can unintendedly create long-term damage to markets by reducing customers’ willingness to pay for such products. But emergencies can also be a blessing in disguise as key messages on good hygiene and sanitation practices reach a larger proportion of the population and are more likely to be adopted as people seek to reduce their vulnerability. This can, in turn, increase demand for WASH products and services, benefiting well-prepared businesses that are able to deliver to their household customers as well as to emergency response programmes.
For Transform WASH, the team has observed a range of negative impacts on their activities caused by the coronavirus pandemic:
However, we have also seen positive effects of the pandemic. While demand for sanitation products has declined as a result of the outbreak, there has been a surge in household, business, and institutional demand for hygiene products, such as handwashing stations, soap, alcohol-based hand sanitisers, and personal protective equipment, like gloves and masks. This sudden high demand did not come without challenges and has placed a strain on supply chains, and it has been difficult to procure priority items centrally and distribute them where needed.
For example, plastic handwashing stations, which had previously seen low consumer demand but reasonably steady institutional demand from NGOs and international agencies, were suddenly potentially attractive in the household consumer market, yet supply chains hardly existed outside of larger cities. Manufacturing inputs for these products have been in short supply due to the increased challenge of importing raw and some finished materials (such as plastic water taps) into the country. In addition, high demand has led to price escalations, putting the cost of many of these items out of reach of both businesses and consumers. Though the government has attempted to control prices during the outbreak, the focus has been primarily on fast-moving consumer goods like food items.
These supply disruptions and shortages, and other logistical challenges caused by the outbreak, have highlighted the important role that an active private sector for WASH products and services can play when most needed. Interventions such as USAID Transform WASH, which seek to improve distribution systems and the operational capacity of small businesses, ultimately help Ethiopia meet current demand and build capacities to address similar types of public health emergencies in the future. However, it is important to start identifying the lessons emerging from the COVID-19 crisis now, such as:
“We no longer need to convince the community about the importance of sanitation and hygiene. We have to diversify our product options creatively and respond to the huge demand created by COVID-19.” - USAID Transform WASH Business Advisor
As the pandemic arrived in Ethiopia, USAID Transform WASH had just started, as part of our planned goals for the year, to support local manufacturing and distribution of handwashing stations. To date, in two short months, our business partners have sold 4,000 handwashing stations to household customers. Many more are in the pipeline, but with nearly 50 million Ethiopian people lacking access to this basic facility in their homes, the market has nowhere to go but up.
About Transform WASH
USAID TRANSFORM WASH sets out to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) outcomes in Ethiopia by increasing access to and sustained use of a wide spectrum of affordable WASH products and services, with a focus on sanitation. It does so by transforming the market for low-cost, high quality WASH products and services: stimulating demand at community level, strengthening supply chains, and building the enabling environment for a vibrant private market.
USAID TRANSFORM WASH is a USAID-funded project implemented by PSI in collaboration with SNV, Plan International, and IRC. The consortium is working closely with government agencies including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, the National WASH Coordination Office and regional governments.
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