By taking on an advising role, an organisation can scale a core innovation with less demand on its resources than would be required through direct action alone.
The new Stanford Social Innovation Review piece highlights how WSUP has incorporated advisory services to scale up our impact in urban water and sanitation.
Read more here: From Direct Action to Advisory Services: A Pathway to Scale for Social Entrepreneurs
Could you run an urban sanitation business? Find out with our new simulation.
Learn more about sanitation businesses by watching our films on SWEEP in Bangladesh and Gasia Poa in Kenya.
Also:
Read our guide to strengthening the enabling environment for faecal sludge management
Lead author: IMC Worldwide. The overall aim of the project is to respond to the Government of Ghana’s interest to establish a National Sanitation Authority (NSA) to prioritise sanitation service delivery and achieve Ghana’s commitment to SDG Goal 6. The Ministry of Sanitation & Water Resources (MSWR) has requested the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative in […]
This Policy Brief reports a research project that identified ways of improving enforcement of by-laws requiring urban landlords to provide acceptable sanitation facilities for their tenants. In Ga West, as in other Ghanaian municipalities, by-laws requiring landlords to provide adequate sanitation exist: but they are rarely enforced. Nearly half of landlords are unaware of the […]
Lusaka has made huge strides in introducing faecal sludge management (FSM) services for low-income consumers, particularly thanks to the efforts of the city’s utility, Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC). WSUP has worked closely with Lusaka’s water and sanitation stakeholders, including LWSC and Lusaka City Council (LCC), for a number of years. In particular, LWSC […]
In Kisumu, Kenya, pit latrines are the dominant form of sanitation, yet the servicing of these pits has previously been unregulated. This Note outlines the recent introduction of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – led by Kisumu County Public Health Office – which aim to minimise operator and public health risk throughout the emptying and disposal […]
Sanitation businesses can improve services for all urban residents – including the poorest – but this requires carefully designed pricing strategies and measures to reduce risk. This publication outlines WSUP’s approach to incentivising the private sector to target low-income customers, and how this is being applied to achieve commercial viability, affordability and equity of FSM […]
This Topic Brief explores the replication of a public-private partnership (PPP) that provides safe faecal sludge emptying and transport from on-site sanitation facilities such as pit latrines and septic tanks, marketed as ‘SWEEP’. Following a successful pilot period and subsequent expansion of SWEEP in Dhaka, WSUP is now replicating the SWEEP model in Bangladesh’s second largest […]
Evaluating the willingness of Kenyan water utility customers to pay a little bit extra on their water bill to support slum sanitation. This Policy Brief explores the main factors that influence willingness to pay (WTP) among utility customers to pay a hypothetical sanitation surcharge. These factors included: trust that the money would be spent correctly; […]
Working with city authorities to improve services and practices This Topic Brief documents the approach, outcomes and learning of an integrated sanitation and hygiene programme implemented in Maputo, Mozambique during the period 2013-2017. The programme was funded by the World Bank-managed Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF), and implemented by WSUP and the Water and Sanitation […]
How can city officials plan (and pay) for sanitation improvements in their municipality? This Policy Brief summarises a literature review that explored the costs of various sanitation technologies. The review indicates that conventional sewer systems are the most expensive urban sanitation solution, followed by systems based on septic tanks, ventilated improved pits (VIP), urine-diverting dry […]
Creating a methodology so city-level sanitation investment decisions can be supported by a better understanding of pathogen flows This Policy Brief summarises an initial research study which developed a conceptual model of faecal pathogen pathways in urban environments. The proposed model uses a “source-pathway-receptor” approach: it considers release of pathogens into the environment, transport in the environment, and eventual […]