Those of you who have been paying attention will recall that my first blog-post promised a story about certification for WASH products! At long last, here it is.
WASH businesses that are attempting to enter both water and sanitation markets worldwide are frequently not what you'd call "business as usual". Many of them are social enterprises started by passionate people who put people before profit and exist primarily to meet a specific challenge.
Since my first post about some first-hand experience of running a WASH business within the Ethiopian business framework I've been wondering how much of the challenges is due to being a foreign business. Maybe the thought occurred to a few readers.
Ethiopia is currently ranked 161st out of 190 countries for "Ease of Doing Business". My first post is about why that might be the case, and how the recent new government has the potential to have an impact as it seeks to harness the potential of the private sector.
Due to the absence of active and participatory platforms for coordination, WASH sector actors – woreda head, offices of women and children's affairs, health, education, water, agriculture and finance – have shown a reluctance to implement WASH activities together. Regrettably, this lack of...
"People used to make fun of me saying, 'Do you really expect us to pay 350 birr for this toy you molded while we can get it for free?'" says Tesfaye Lemanche, Chair of Data Concrete Slab production Association.
It's the final day of the design summit, and we're all a bit weary but energized to see the fruits of all this labor. When we started our 10-day journey with MIT, it felt to me like a long time to spend in a workshop. But as the summit progressed, I realized that we could easily spend a month...
Day 6 at the USAID Transform WASH Design Summit began like every day, with Morning Circle. This is a moment to set the mood, reflect, have a bit of fun, and make announcements about the day. The group is large with 35 participants plus Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Design Lab...
When we set out to transform the WASH sector in Ethiopia, I knew it would be a fascinating journey. But, our Transform WASH Design Summit, organized by PSI/Ethiopia and led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) D-Lab here in Hawassa, took us to an entirely new place.
The Sanitation Marketing Multi Stakeholder Platform (MSP) works to support improved sanitation, a key objective of the One WASH National Program and...
You may have heard of the Lord of the Rings, but in Bihar, India, that name is taking on a whole new meaning. I recently joined a field visit to this part of the world to see how cement ring businesses are changing the face of rural sanitation.
The scope and potential role of financial institutions for sanitation financing and possible program interventions to support these institutions with...
Aimed at sharing some of the latest experiences and developments in sanitation marketing, the quarterly National Sanitation Marketing Multi-stakeholders Platform meeting was held in September 2017 in collaboration with the USAID Transform WASH Project.
IRC WASH, on behalf of the USAID Transform WASH Consortium, took over providing the secretariat for the national 'Sanitation Marketing Multi-stakeholder Platform (MSP)' from the World Bank's WSP in June 2017. This is a key opportunity to support the government and the wider sector in developing...
The World Bank in Ethiopia has commissioned a rapid survey of what motivates people to upgrade their latrines, with the aim of delivering behaviour change communication materials with greater impact.
