Local to National: How every family can build a toilet in Bolivia

by: Mark Duey, CEO, Water For People

In the past, major funding programs have told us water access issues just “aren’t sexy enough.”

If water access isn’t sexy enough, sanitation access is even less so. But as Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) CEO Catarina de Albuquerque said about the recent Finance Ministers’ Meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean, “Water and sanitation are not just human rights but also catalysts for economic development, better public health, education, and job creation.”   

In other words, access to water and sanitation is fundamental to human prosperity, which is the objective of all the United Nations' combined Sustainable Development Goals.

Across Latin America, we have observed a financial gap between urban and rural water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) investments. This gap is especially prominent with sanitation services for rural, widely dispersed populations because larger programs and governments are investing more money in urban areas. Only 25% of countries are on track to meet their national sanitation targets, compared to 45% on track to meet water targets. This was a significant topic of conversation during the meetings SWA recently hosted in Washington, D.C.

We know there is so much work to do. But these challenging situations are where Water For People teams thrive. An example of innovative, problem-solving is in Bolivia – one of four countries in Latin America where Water For People works to address water and sanitation access challenges.

In rural Bolivia, 53% of the rural population does not have basic sanitation access. And within that percentage, over 1 million people are using no bathroom at all.

Our team in Cochabamba developed the Municipal Sanitation Incentive Program. We don’t believe in giving away toilets – that’s not sustainable. If families aren’t investing their own resources or choosing their own toilets, they’re less likely to use them. Instead, this program encourages families to build a bathroom through training and offering hardware incentives.

Rural families build the bathroom and appropriate sanitation treatment around it, covering about 90% of the cost. Then, the local municipal government provides the hardware such as toilets, sinks, taps, soap dishes, and more, which is about 10% of the total cost. And, as part of the program, Water For People and the municipal government conduct training on how to install and maintain the new toilets.

More families with improved bathrooms means better health and dignity for the entire community.

To date, the program has supported 3,000 families, prioritizing those in rural areas. Though it began several years ago with a single municipality in Cochabamba, we are in the process of expanding and scaling this program to 19 municipalities in Bolivia.

But there are more than 300 municipalities in Bolivia. And almost 600,000 families without adequate bathrooms. We need to be able to scale – fast.

Converting initiatives like this into national programs could reduce the amount of public funds directly invested as they are combined with family funds and implemented through the municipalities. Additionally, strengthening local municipal water and sanitation offices helps guarantee the sustainability and technical quality of these initiatives.

We calculate that with no more than $50 million in incentives, Bolivia could transition from being one of the furthest behind in sanitation targets to one of the first to reach universal and sustainable access to sanitation.

This is an opportunity that doesn't cost billions. Or even hundreds of millions. We're talking about a national initiative to close the gap for less than a hundred million dollars. I believe there are similar opportunities with high impact and low levels of public investment in each country.

During the Latin American and Caribbean Finance Minister’s meeting, Inter-American Development Bank President Ilan Goldfajn told the crowd in his opening remarks to invest more and also invest better. Programs like Bolivia’s Municipal Sanitation Incentive Program illustrate how we can invest better – improving health and prosperity across a country.