Celebrating five years of WASH advancements in India with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) Global

Image from part three of RTI's blog series on blended finance, Why is Philanthropic Capital not being Leveraged to Scale-up Blended Finance Options in WASH?

In December 2022, our five-year long partnership with RTI Global in India culminated with the realisation of improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and systems for more than 48,560 people living in Odisha and Rajasthan - including more than 28,660 women and girls and 1,030 people with disabilities directly. These milestones are impressive but represent just the beginning of the ripple effect now set in motion through this transformative WASH work.

RTI initially commenced with Water for Women in 2018 as part of a collaborative project with the Centre for Advocacy and Research, India, however eventually established its own project to focus solely on its project scope and areas of operation. A major accomplishment of RTI has been the establishment of the WASH Hub program in Odisha and Rajasthan – an innovative platform that facilitates and develops community-led business models and public-private blended finance models to spark community demand and private sector supply of WASH services.

Through RTI’s Water for Women project, Enhancing private sector engagement in WASH in India, the team focused on further catalysing private sector engagement in WASH in India through the WASH Hub and providing support to UNICEF in Odisha to enhance private sector engagement in their WASH programs. RTI’s work with UNICEF extended to supporting WASH-based livelihoods, a WASH in schools mainstreaming program, and grey water and faecal-sludge management industrial applications.

“The RTI team has shown exemplary commitment to the project and has gone beyond the expected role, demonstrating integrity and sincerity. UNICEF is extremely satisfied with the support extended by RTI”

UNICEF

Some highlights from RTI’s Water for Women initiatives during the five-year period include:

• collaboration with the Government of Rajasthan and Asian Development Bank to pilot public-private models to establish wastewater recycling for industrial private sector reuse - helping to avoid extraction of 70 million litres of freshwater daily

• collaboration with the Government of Odisha Faecal Sludge and Septage Management Technical Support Unit to identify opportunities for sector collaboration

• support of a micro-enterprise for sanitation and health pilot in Odisha to provide a self-sustaining, integrated public toilet and shop unit run by women-led self-help groups

• development of a blended finance and WASH insights series to explore the potential of blended finance in WASH to attract and scale-up private sector investment and engagement, which is needed for India to achieve SDG6.

“We note that the three pilot projects will help avoid extraction of 70 million litres of freshwater daily which furthers the availability of freshwater resources in the state towards more critical developmental needs. We appreciate how improved freshwater availability will also increase the resilience of Rajasthan citizens to climate change. Most importantly, this exercise has helped developing a common framework to replicate such initiatives elsewhere in Rajasthan and beyond,”

Government of Rajasthan and Asian Development Bank

“Contemplating the current economic situation, every rupee of social investment should also fuel economic growth and make communities self-sustainable, [this] stood out more clearly as we delved deeper into this exercise with RTI. The learnings from this exercise will aid our team at the Foundation in leveraging the methodology of ‘learning-through-measuring’ for our future contributions, as well.”

H T Parekh Foundation

Water for Women Fund Manager, Dr Alison Baker thanked RTI for their hard work and dedication to developing business and finance models to enhance private sector participation in WASH, to create WASH livelihoods, and ultimately, increase WASH access in India.

“Equitable access to WASH is a critical building block for community health and wellbeing and a climate-resilient future,” said Dr Baker. “We know that investment and action from both public and private sectors is required to meet the ambitious targets set out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We also know that those most marginalised in society, including women and girls, people with disabilities and people from sexual and gender minority communities, are disproportionately affected by - and on the frontline of responses to - climate change.

“To achieve SDG6 – water and sanitation for all by 2030 – we must transform WASH services, strengthen WASH systems, challenge negative social norms that perpetuate inequalities and empower diverse representatives to lead the change.”

Learn more about RTI’s Water for Women project, which was one of 20 WASH projects to be delivered by civil society organisation partners in 15 countries in Asia and the Pacific between 2018-2022.