BPD & Water for People Session
16th August 2009
Harnessing the Private Sector to Provide Sanitation to the Poor
How do you catalyse businesses that address sanitation needs in poor communities? BPD and Water for People have been exploring the role of the local private sector in providing sanitation for several years and debated this and other key pro-poor sanitation issues at the session.
Sanitation is often seen as a household responsibility and recently a lot of attention has been paid to why households invest in it, if at all. Less has been said about who these households deal with when they want sanitation services. Recent work by BPD and others has shown that governments provide only the minority of sanitation services to poor communities. A larger player is the local private sector; numerous diverse entrepreneurs offer a range of sanitation services to communities, often with only limited oversight or support.
In discussion with sanitation entrepreneurs and those who support them, this interactive session engaged participants in a debate on how best to harness entrepreneurial activities for the public good. It was co-convened by BPD and Water for People.
Stockholm Briefing Note (pdf) - Harnessing the Private Sector