Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa Water & Sanitation & Hygiene May -June 2017 | Page 31

Sanitation
Source: World Bank
Toward water and sanitation for all: Featuring
Matt Damon, co-founder of Water.org
sanitation was one of the most off-track Millennium
Development Goals (MDG) globally. Only 68% of the
world’s population has access to improved sanitation, but
70% of the Sub-Saharan Africa population and 53% of
South Asia still lack access. The world missed the MDG
target for sanitation by almost 700 million people.
Sanitation lies at the root of many other development
challenges, as poor sanitation impacts public health,
education, and the environment. Almost 1,000
children under five die each day from diarrhea caused
by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. Without
sanitation girls are more likely to drop out of school or are
vulnerable to attacks while seeking privacy. Recent analysis
shows that ending open defecation can save children’s lives
by reducing disease transmission, stunting, and under-
nutrition, which are important for childhood cognitive
development and future economic productivity.
Lack of sanitation also holds back economic growth.
Poor sanitation billions to some countries, amounting
to the equivalent of 6.3% of GDP in Bangladesh, 6.4%
of GDP in India, 7.2% of GDP in Cambodia, 2.4% of
GDP in Niger, and 3.9% of GDP in Pakistan annually.
The economic losses are mainly driven by premature
deaths, the cost of health care treatment, lost time and
productivity seeking treatment, and finding access to
sanitation facilities. Pollution resulting from improper
disposal and treatment of wastewater and domestic fecal
sludge also affects both water resources and ecosystems.
At the same time, fecal sludge and wastewater can provide
valuable resources (water, nutrients, and energy) and
economic opportunities, especially in urban areas and in
water-scarce environments.
By Brittany Scalise
Matt Damon urges ministers to move aggressively toward
water and sanitation for all.
On April 20th, Matt Damon, co-founder of Water.org,
addressed ministers of finance, water, and sanitation
from across the world at the Sanitation and Water for
All (SWA) Finance Ministers’ High Level Meeting at the
2017 World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings. The meeting
focused on finding ways to fill the enormous financing
gap via innovative financial solutions. Mr. Damon urged
ministers to consider the full breadth of financing options
to achieve the goal of providing safe, affordable, and
sustainable water and sanitation for all.
“While there are multiple approaches to solving the
challenge of universal access, mobilizing capital is the
most pressing and powerful solution,” Mr. Damon said.
The solution lies in leveraging both top-down and bottom-
up financing, through the intersection of household level
micro-financing and macro level financing, he suggested.
Damon also introduced WaterCredit, a successful
innovation by Water.org, and outlined how this has worked
to reach over five million people to date. “WaterCredit has
enabled households living at the base of the economic
pyramid to take out 1.2 million small loans for a toilet or
tap.” he said. “The loans have almost no defaults, with a
global repayment rate of 99%.”
Damon encouraged the ministers to consider how access
to water and sanitation can be income enabling, and
recommended that access to safe water can prevent poor
people from getting hit by high healthcare costs due to the
consumption of unsafe water.
In his closing remarks, Damon proposed that this issue
cannot be tackled alone. “We need our partners, the
other civil society organizations, your ministries, and
private finance to join together to increase efficiency
in operations, set appropriate tariffs, and make finance
affordable and accessible to those living at the base of the
economic pyramid,” he said.
Together we can solve the water and sanitation crisis by
2030.
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