Title | From beneficiaries to businesses to the big picture: Monitoring for sustainability in market-based approaches to sanitation |
Publication Type | Miscellaneous |
Year of Publication | 2013 |
Authors | Sparkman, D |
Abstract | Since 2008, similar to other organizations in the sanitation sector, Water For People has embarked on a more market-oriented strategy to sanitation development. In short, "market-oriented," in terms of Water For People's work, involves a focus on the private sector (entrepreneurs, businesses, etc.) as the primary actors responsible for catalyzing increased access to sustainable sanitation services among lower income household "customers." Before this shift to a market focus, the primary monitoring activities of Water For People involved an almost exclusive look at sanitation infrastructure at the household level, with little or no focus on other components, and the actors and institutions that sustain them, throughout the entire sanitation service chain. This service chain incorporates not only storage practices at the household, but also sludge disposal, conveyance, treatment and when appropriate, reuse. While access to, and usage of, services at the household level continues to be a key outcome to track in any sanitation program; Water For People's experience with market-oriented programs has highlighted the importance of more holistic monitoring practices and understanding the health of the overall sanitation service chain. In market-based approaches specifically, sanitation sustainability is predicated on the This paper, through the presentation of a short case study from Blantyre, Malawi, will illustrate Water For People's efforts to expand monitoring strategies to assess not only household outcomes, but overall sanitation market and service chain health and sustainability. |