sanitation

Toilet talk may be taboo in most professional situations, but at World Water Week, toilets were a hot topic.

For those unfamiliar with World Water Week, it is an annual meeting of water experts, practitioners and leaders from around the globe to discuss the world’s most urgent water issues. This year’s meeting was held August 16-21 in Stockholm, and ideas were exchanged on many water-related topics, ranging from water management practices to sustainable business models to research on health impacts to policy.  (For those interested, presentations from the event can be downloaded for free here).

This year saw a number of sessions focused on sanitation (a.k.a. toilets). The raw statistics around sanitation are shocking: 2.4 billion people (more than 1/3 of the world’s population) lack access to adequate toilet facilities. One in five children dies of diarrheal diseases, and 88% of diarrhea cases are caused by either unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation or poor hygiene.

Sanitation challenges are intimately linked with the lack of infrastructure investments in rural areas and informal settlements and slums, but solutions are emerging that can be applied by individuals and communities without a need to rely on large-scale centralized investments. It was encouraging to see entrepreneurs developing models for improving access to safe, hygienic toilets that can be distributed widely at affordable prices.

Dr. Brindeshwar Pathak, a sanitation innovator who founded the Sulabh Sanitation Movement, was the most prominent example: he was awarded the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize for his pioneering work in developing cost-effective toilet solutions and his work to change social attitudes toward unsanitary latrine practices. The scale of Sulabh is truly impressive, and the preservation of human dignity lies at the core of their work.

Another, earlier stage, example that stood out to me was Bapak Sumadi, an entrepreneur in Indonesia, a country where 66 million people practice open defecation. Mr. Sumadi has developed an innovative business strategy around direct sales of latrines: he’s segmented his market and has priced four different levels of products (ranging from $18 - $85); he’s branded each model with a catchy name and designed them to be upgradeable; he offers flexible payment terms and after-sales services (e.g., pit-emptying).  While it remains to be seen whether the model will be able to scale, it is encouraging to see promise in these enterprising, consumer-focused approaches to challenging one of the world’s biggest problems.

The conference was a valuable opportunity to identify business models and make contacts that can help us as we continue to invest in this sector.

Let me congratulate Acumen investee David Kuria, founder of Ecotact, for being named the African Social Entrepreneur of the Year for 2009 by the World Economic Forum! This is fantastic recognition for David and his team’s work on bringing affordable, high quality sanitation services to thousands of people every day. Currently, Ecotact serves more than 9,000 customers daily through 10 toilets operated throughout the city of Nairobi, Kenya and other nearby locations. The toilets cost 5 shillings per use, though individuals also can pay a bit more to take a shower in a clean environment – a real luxury for thousands who travel into the city from the slums and far-flung rural areas to work in offices after long, dusty bus ride. Ecotact is showing that public-private partnerships can work on behalf of all people and we are proud to be a part of this effort.

“The toilet is a godsend” says Maurice Kirimi, a 29-year old Kenyan interviewed in line outside an Ecotact Ikotoilet last week. Maurice’s comments - along with a handful of other customers’ - were featured in an article that appeared in Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper about new, pay-per-use public toilets. Entitled “Public toilets no longer filthy dens but gleaming havens,” the article discusses pricing (5 KSh for the toilets - about $0.06 USD; 10 KSh for a shower - about $0.12 USD) and customer satisfaction.

We’re glad to see an Acumen Fund investee featured in the article, but what’s even better is to hear customers’ opinions of clean, professionally-managed sanitation facilities. And you can’t beat the photo, which is of an Ikotoilet facility on Aga Khan Walk.

Before you answer the question I want to wish you a very Happy New Year. Now, please think about the question…

Do you have your answer? Is your answer, a “TOILET?”  If not, I am not sure if the statistic of 2.6 billion people lacking access to a toilet would strike you as a serious enough problem for you to take action.

I am tempted to quote more statistics but I believe I can convince you of the gravity of the problem if you can indulge me by participating in a small thought experiment – Think about a normal day in your life from the time you get up to time you go to bed. Now how does this day change if you had no access to toilets for the entire day? Seriously think about it. Maybe it didn’t change much because for some reason you are capable of dealing with the pressures of nature’s calls. But how does the same day look like if everybody else used whatever space they got (even others don’t have access to toilets on this imaginary day) to do their business, I mean go to the toilet? Again I request you to think deeply about it. I am guessing you are not having pleasant thoughts. While you are still thinking I would also like you to contemplate on why Mahatma Gandhi would have ever said that “sanitation is more important than independence.”

I ask you again, “What is the one thing you just cannot live without?”