Water for Women - India (RTI)

Enhancing private sector engagement in WASH in India

From 2018 to 2022, Water for Women partnered with Research Triangle Institute Global India (RTI) to facilitate and develop business and finance models to enhance private sector participation in WASH, and to increase access to WASH and create WASH livelihoods in India.

This project came to a close in December 2022.

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.

Context

As outlined in the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, investment and action from both public and private sectors is required to meet the ambitious targets. As a cross-cutting goal that impacts all 16 other Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), SDG 6 – Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all – is fundamental.

India has a population of 1.39 billion, approximately 35% of which live in urban areas. While there has been a 15% national increase in access to at least basic sanitation services since 2015, less than 50% of the population have access to safely managed sanitation services ^[1].

As part of a multi-pronged approach, Water for Women’s project with RTI aimed to catalyse private sector engagement in WASH in India.

RTI identified Rajasthan as a key state to work in as it relies heavily on groundwater for drinking and irrigation, and currently has low levels of sewage treatment and recycling, with only around 15% and less than 5%^[2] respectively. Rajasthan faces extremely high water security risk.

Overview

As part of a multi-pronged approach, Water for Women’s project with RTI aimed to catalyse private sector engagement in WASH in India through RTI’s WASH Hub program in two states: Odisha and Rajasthan.

The WASH Hub program facilitated and developed both community-led business models and public-private engagement models. These blended finance approaches, which use public and civil society resources to spark community demand and private sector supply, proved successful in both states.

The WASH Hub program delivery was also been extended to mobilise socially-inclusive WASH services in urban slums.

Building on RTI and UNICEF’s collaboration in support of India’s COVID-19 pandemic response, this partnership catalysed private sector engagement in WASH programs by building direct investment in innovative business models and philanthropic support for community WASH programs, including:

• Sanitation-based livelihoods, with support provided for entrepreneurs to develop business models and financing plans.
• Grey water and faecal sludge management, with support to entities to develop plans and business models for the treatment and reuse of wastewater.
• WASH for schools, with encouragement for the private sector to meet the post-COVID-19 lockdown demand for infrastructure and provide training for teachers and students.

RTI also worked with the Government of Rajasthan (GoR) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to pilot projects to establish wastewater recycling for industrial private sector re-use, with the aim of developing Rajasthan’s wastewater recycling market and enhancing private sector engagement in it. The aim was to help to lower water source pollution and reduce industries’ dependence on freshwater sources, which will strengthen the state’s water security.

Using a blended financing model, the public investment assisted in identifying and convening prospective public and private entities to build partnerships and mobilise sewerage recycling projects. The partners provided support to develop business plans for upgrades to existing sewage plants as well as new sewage plants. Three pilot projects were implemented to engage industrial customers for the treated sewerage.

Outcomes

The primary aim of the private sector engagement work in Odisha and Rajasthan was to improve water security through developing markets and businesses for WASH services including for households, in schools and for industrial use.

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

^[1] In 2020, 46% of the population of India were using safely managed sanitation services that are not shared with other premises and there had been a 15% increase in access to at least basic sanitation since 2015, according to the JMP report, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2015-2020: Five years into the SDGs, available at: jmp-2021-wash-households_3.pdf (washdata.org) (pp 51 & 60).

*Project targets are based on partner Civil Society Organisations (CSO) baseline studies. Project targets are updated periodically in response to changes in context as appropriate. To see our latest progress towards targets, see our progress.