Sanitation
The world can’ t wait for sewers: Is container-based sanitation a viable answer to the global sanitation crisis?
By WSUP For many people living in low-income urban areas, a flush toilet or sewer connection is little more than a pipe dream. Often the infrastructure doesn’ t exist or can’ t be constructed in such densely populated or topographically challenging areas, or service fees are simply too high. The world needs a viable, high-quality alternative to piped sanitation that can reach people living in these areas – like container-based sanitation( CBS) businesses. These enterprises are uniquely suited to the challenges of serving dense urban populations, but are not without their challenges. This new joint report by EY and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor( WSUP) considers those obstacles, presenting insights aiming to improve CBS businesses’ prospects for success. The report focuses on Clean Team Ghana, a CBS business set up and managed by WSUP. Following the CBS model, Clean Team provides customers with stand-alone toilets that store waste in sealable, removable cartridges that can then be safely removed and taken to a treatment or resource recovery centre. But the business has faced challenges; negative associations with old-style, poorly managed bucket latrines can be hard to overcome, and questions remain over whether the CBS model can be reliably scaled as a successful business. With Clean Team having grappled with these challenges in Kumasi for several years, WSUP engaged EY to help, with a team from Enterprise Growth Services( EY’ s notfor-profit practice dedicated to supporting social impact businesses in low-income countries) working with Clean Team to identify how it could achieve profitability and get to scale. The outcomes of that analysis are presented in this report in the form of insights aimed at improving prospects for success – not just for Clean Team but for other CBS enterprises worldwide, offering the potential for them to achieve the scale and impact necessary for CBS to gain official recognition as an improved sanitation option.“ We hope this report provides water, sanitation and hygiene stakeholders with a blueprint for taking CBS to the next level, gaining the recognition that it deserves as an
improved sanitation option and scaling it as an important contributor to the achievement of SDG targets.” Jon Shepard, Director – Enterprise Growth Services, EY & Neil Jeffery, CEO – Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor
Country overview
Burkina Faso is a low-income($ 615 gross per capita income in 2015), landlocked Sub-Saharan country, with limited natural resources. Its population, which is growing at an average annual rate of 3 %, was estimated at almost 18.11 million inhabitants in 2015( World Bank data). The economy is heavily reliant on agricultural production, with close to 80 % of the active population employed in the sector. Cotton is the country’ s most important cash crop, while gold exports have gained importance in recent years.
Medium-term outlook
The forecast for growth over the next three years is positive, despite a gloomy international economic environment, characterized by the decline in the price of exports( gold and cotton) and insecurity in the subregion. In the medium term, economic growth should be more sustained, driven in particular by mining exports( thanks to the commissioning of new mines), investments and consumption. Growth in 2016 is projected at approximately 5.2 %, while inflation should remain below the WAEMU threshold of 3 %.
Statistics
Total population( 2015) 18,106,000 Gross national income per capita( PPP international $, 2013) 1 Life expectancy at birth m / f( years, 2015) 59 / 60 Probability of dying under five( per 1 000 live births, 0) not available Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years m / f( per 1 000 population, 2015) 275 / 248 Total expenditure on health per capita( Intl $, 2014) 82 Total expenditure on health as % of GDP( 2014) 5.0
About the Author Sarah Mackenzie is a Communication Consultant with IRC Burkina Faso
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • March- April 2017 29