Since 1997, iDE has been a using a market-based approach to improve access to clean water, sanitation, and hand washing (WASH) in rural areas, globally. iDE has developed an effective market-based approach to improving rural sanitation that is rooted in the Human Centered Design (HCD) process.

HCD is a design research process that helps to understand the needs of users in new ways, create innovative solutions to meet these needs, and deliver solutions with financial sustainability in mind. It is grounded in user research and user insights and employs ethnographic research techniques to develop an understanding of latent and expressed user needs and then develop products and services that meet those needs. In order to develop a truly successful innovation, HCD looks at each challenge through three lenses: desirability from the user perspective, feasibility from a technical perspective, and viability from a business perspective.

In Cambodia, the HCD process led to the development of the ‘Easy Latrine’, a $35 USD pour-flush latrine. Designed to be produced and sold by local concrete businesses, the Easy Latrine is sold as a packaged product that includes all the ground components. The Easy Latrine can be self-installed and responds to the needs of rural households by being aspirational (pour flush, offset pit), accessible (home delivery, packaged product), and affordable.

Problem

2.5 people do not have a toilet, suffering dire consequences in health, environment, economics, and human dignity. Diarrheal illnesses kill more children than HIV, malaria, and TB combined. Well-meaning subsidies have depressed demand for toilets, stymied private sanitation markets, and discouraged a sense of ownership. In Cambodia, 82% of the rural poor still practice open defecation. Research, however, showed a strong demand for household latrines existed. Sanitation markets also existed in the sense that there were customers and there were suppliers, but they had failed to address the sanitation needs, wants, and desires of the poor. Little information regarding latrine options and costs was available. Purchasing a latrine was prohibitively expensive and logistically challenging.

Solution

To address this market failure, iDE implemented a 16-month Sanitation Marketing Pilot Project to test market-based approaches to improve sanitation coverage. The product and purchasing and manufacturing processes were redesigned to remove barriers to purchase; social marketing tactics were deployed to stimulate consumer demand; and businesses were shown the profitable opportunities in the sanitation market. iDE used human-centered design methodology to design the Easy Latrine, an aspirational, accessible, and affordable product, redesigned to be cheaper, simpler to install, more conveniently packaged, and recognizably branded. It has allowed the market to sustainably create demand for sanitation through the private sector without relying on government and NGO subsidies. The modifications dropped the price for a latrine from approximately $56 to just $35, increasing sales by 300% over the historical rate of sales. At $5 profit per unit, businesses are eager to sell latrines as well.

Example

The pilot demonstrated that private sector enterprises could profit from creating demand for and supplying sanitation products to rural households. At the start of the pilot, iDE undertook a 12-week research phase using human-centered design (HCD) to develop a marketable latrine design that would enable all rural households, regardless of income, to purchase latrines. The HCD design process seeks input from all stakeholders at every step – from initial concepts, refinement and prototyping, to final design. Sanitation stakeholders engaged in this project included latrine owners and non-owners, masons, concrete producers, and retailers. The resulting product was the Easy Latrine. iDE’s primary role in the pilot was to create demand for the Easy Latrine while ensuring supply and coordination with the government. This was done through an integrated sanitation marketing program that combines village-level promotional activities and mass media campaigns to generate market-led demand for sanitary latrines. iDE also provided training and support for supply chain actors to ensure adequate supply of sanitation products and services, and collaborated with authorities at all levels to ensure that Easy Latrine promotion is integrated with government sanitation and hygiene activities. In 16 months, almost 12,000 Easy Latrines were sold unsubsidized—300% over the historical rate of sales, and 29 enterprises entered the market. Notably, in one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia, households that the government has identified as particularly poor made a third of the purchases.

Marketplace

iDE’s SanMark program is no longer the only one in Cambodia. Many other sector stakeholders are engaged in marketing efforts, either as funders or implementers. All organizations involved meet periodically, carry out exposure visits to their respective implementation areas, share lessons, and continue to refine approaches to make implementation more effective. Organizations implementing similar programs do end up competing for funding, but as with the private sector, collaborative competition leads to innovation that is shared with the entire sector. The on-going learning and exchange have benefited all stakeholders and have contributed immensely to the success of the different programs.