The U.K. Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Partner to Transform Sanitation for the Urban Poor

LONDON/SEATTLE (July 29, 2014) – The U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced new projects as part of a partnership to encourage accessible, affordable sanitation service delivery in cities around the world. This includes more than $1.5 million in new funding to cities to explore innovative ways to reach the 2.5 billion people worldwide without access to safe sanitation services.

The new partnership builds on the two organizations’ shared belief that improved sanitation is essential for healthy urban communities. In many cities, millions of people rely on systems that don’t safely dispose of human waste. To address this, DFID and the Gates Foundation are supporting public and private sector collaborations to safely and sustainably collect and treat waste and recover valuable resources.

Today, 2.5 billion people don’t have access to safe toilets, harming the health and well-being of families, particularly in rapidly urbanizing areas in developing countries. Traditional sewer systems require large amounts of land, energy and water, making them costly and often difficult to integrate into densely populated urban areas. These new projects seek to explore innovative approaches to sanitation in underserved and resource constrained settings, tapping the power of the private sector to scale service delivery.

“Delivering sanitation services is challenging, expensive and often ineffective, particularly for the poorest communities,” said Brian Arbogast, director of the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Thanks to this partnership with DFID, we are supporting cities to identify effective ways to tap into the innovation and entrepreneurial drive of the private sector, helping them to deliver sanitation services that meet the needs of their communities.”

Rob Whitby, Head of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Team at DFID said: “As developing countries become increasingly urban, making sure there are adequate sanitation services becomes more challenging. Our partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will increase significantly knowledge of what works in the delivery of sustainable urban sanitation services for poor people so that development assistance can be targeted more effectively.”

Organizations in Bangladesh, Liberia, Malawi, Nepal, India and Sierra Leone were among the 11 projects announced today.  Funds were awarded to:

• Dushtha Shasthya Kendra to analyze scope of private sector engagement in delivery of equitable sustainable sanitation services in Dhaka, Bangladesh
• The Center for Environmental Planning and Technology to learn how to bring sustainable and equitable sanitation services to small and medium towns in Maharashtra, India
• Population Services International in Liberia to use performance-based contracting to build a pay-for-use sanitation market in Monrovia, Liberia
• Practical Action to analyze market systems and propose public-private partnership opportunities for improving city wide self-sustaining sludge management services in Faridpur, Bangladesh
• WASTE to create sanitation service level agreements in Blantyre City, Malawi
• Environment and Public Health Organization to stimulate fecal sludge management businesses through private sector engagement in Lalitpur City, Nepal
• Infrastructure Development Corporation to create partnerships for urban sanitation service delivery in Chitradurga, India
• GOAL to achieve sustained environmental health improvements through fecal sludge management enterprises in Freetown, Sierra Leone
• Administrative College of India to identify how to deliver sustainable and equitable sanitation services in Warangal, India
• Khanyisa Projects to develop city partnerships for urban sanitation services in eThekwini Municipality, South Africa
• Kampala Capital City Authority to improve fecal sludge management for on-site sanitation in Kampala City, Uganda

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About Department for International Development

The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty, working with international organisations and the governments of poorer countries. We're ending the need for aid by creating jobs, unlocking the potential of girls and women and helping to save lives when humanitarian emergencies hit.

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.