Business Incentives and Models for Sanitation Entrepreneurs to Provide Services to the Urban Poor in Africa
Local private entrepreneurs are fairly commonplace in the water and sanitation (WASH) sector – a World Bank study from 2005, covering 49 developing countries estimated there to be more than 10,000 independent water supply providers. Other studies suggest
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Business Incentives and Models for Sanitation Entrepreneurs to Provide Services to the Urban Poor in Africa Tracey Keatman
Abstract Local private entrepreneurs are fairly commonplace in the water and sanitation (WASH) sector – a World Bank study from 2005, covering 49 developing countries estimated there to be more than 10,000 independent water supply providers. Other studies suggest that the private enterprise market share for sanitation is even greater. Many of these providers work in and with poor communities where there are often no other services available. They operate at different scales, levels of formality and fulfil various functions. In the past few years, an increased focus in the WASH sector has helped to understand more about the incentives for engaging smaller-scale providers, the regulatory environment within which they work, and means to further develop entrepreneurial activities; both to increase basic WASH service delivery to the poor and stimulate local labour markets. Supporting emerging entrepreneurs who specifically help the poorest and offering business development services is a more recent approach. With the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council recognising the Rights to Water and Sanitation in 2010, the activities of all service providers – whether public or private, large or small – have come under scrutiny. This chapter gathers some of the emerging lessons learned about entrepreneurial models being trailed by the INGO WaterAid in Malawi and Tanzania to support service delivery to the poor.
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Introduction
In the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors, local entrepreneurs1 are fairly commonplace. A World Bank study from 2005, covering 49 developing countries estimated more than 10,000 independent water supply providers (Kariuki and
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For this chapter, the term entrepreneur relates to any person or persons that are starting up or taking on a business approach to WASH service (and product) delivery. The definition moves beyond private sector groups that work as regular contractors – such as borehole drilling firms, masons, T. Keatman (*) Senior Consultant, Partnerships in Practice, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 S. Bell et al. (eds.), Urban Water Trajectories, Future City 6, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42686-0_8
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Schwartz 2005). Other work suggests that the private enterprise’s market share for sanitation is even greater (BPD 2008). Many of these providers respond to an unmet demand for services, often costlier than access to WASH through formal or utility providers, and they work with poor communities where there are often no other formal (public or private) services available (Schaub-Jones 2011). Since the Rights to Water and Sanitation was adopted in 2010, more attention is being paid to how the service delivery role of local WASH entrepreneurs fits into the Rights framework and how ‘these operators at the least do not interfere with the enjoyment of the human
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