Meet trailblazing latrine business owner Hat Tin

Since participating in business training through the Water for Women WASH Scale Up project with iDE, Hat Tin has expanded her latrine business, seen positive sales growth and developed key management skills to continue leading the operations. (photo: iDE)

By increasing the skills and confidence of women entrepreneurs in taking on leadership roles in sanitation businesses, alongside their male counterparts, the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector can defy gender norms and create transformative and sustainable impact within the private sector. 

In this video, Hat Tin explains how she has overcome challenges and built up her business following the training and mentoring she received, and why she encourages other women to follow in her footsteps.

Water for Women partners with iDE to deliver WASH-SUP3 – Cambodia water, sanitation and hygiene scale up program to reach communities in six provinces of Cambodia, including Svay Rieng, Kandal, Prey Veng, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap and Oddar Meanchey.

By developing connections between latrine suppliers, provincial departments of rural development, and commune and village authorities, the project is ensuring that market actors and local government entities coordinate efforts towards the mutual goal of inclusive WASH delivery.

Women are a critical component of the WASH supply chain. Most latrine suppliers are family-run businesses and 80 percent involve a partner who is a woman. Women play a managerial or decision-making role in 55 percent of latrine businesses, including 12 percent of all enterprises that are run with a woman in an executive role.

iDE designs affordable and aspirational sanitation and hygiene products for rural households. These products are advertised by sales agents in door-to-door sales to generate demand and create behavior change. Latrine business owners are supported with business, technical, and gender-inclusive capacity building to achieve a sustainable supply chain. Women and men both work together as business partners to manufacture, install and deliver WASH products.

Water for Women is the Australian government's flagship WASH program and is being delivered as part of Australia's aid program over five years, from 2018 to 2022. Through Water for Women, Australia is investing AUD118.9m to deliver 33 water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects and research initiatives, which aim to directly benefit 2.9 million people in 15 countries across South Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific.