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Tim Brennan and John McKibbin
Incompatible Philosophies or Complementary Roles? Civil Society and Business Engagement in the Water, Sanitation And Hygiene Sector
THINKCHANGEDO
Development Futures Conference, November 21st – 22nd 2013
Anna Gero, Janina Murta, Lee Leong, Juliet Willetts
Emerging trends and pathways to address poverty
• Increasing recognition of need to use aid to leverage local investment
• Recognition of lack of sustainability of many aid programs and support
• Emergence of new organisational types including ‘socially’ minded business
“Enterprise in WASH”: Why this research?
Growing role of small-scale
business
Growing need to move beyond voluntary or
subsidised approaches
Mixed levels of skills within
CSOs to work with private
sector
Private & social enterprise
CSOs
+
=
?
Incompatible philosophies?
Complementary roles?
CSOs providing training, acting as intermediaries
Enterprise offering services
systematic review +evidence from field work in Indonesia
Private and social enterprise engagement with CSOs – what does it look like?
What are the outcomes for the poor resulting from enterprise engagement?
How aligned, or not, are the objectives and incentives of CSOs and enterprise?
Literature Findings: Business Models
• Formal private operators working under licence
• Franchises and network models
• Informal private sector providers
• Importers, Retailers, and Wholesalers
• “One stop shop” / “Rural Sanitation Marts” / “Sani-centres”
• Prefabricated concrete producers
• Micro entrepreneurs
• NGOs and CBOs
• User associations
• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
• Large companies and international / multi-national corporations
Literature Findings: Business Models
• Formal private operators working under licence
• Franchises and network models
• Informal private sector providers
• Importers, Retailers, and Wholesalers
• “One stop shop” / “Rural Sanitation Marts” / “Sani-centres”
• Prefabricated concrete producers
• Micro entrepreneurs
• NGOs and CBOs
• User associations
• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
• Large companies and international / multi-national corporations
Businesses are diverse, dynamic, respond to demand, context specific
Literature Findings: Private & social enterprise engagement with CSOs
CSOs: Sanitation Marketing: emerging trend for CSO engagement with businesses & government
CSOs: bottom-up role, capacity building, enterprise establishment; some policy-level support in water
CSOs: role in “formalisation” of CBOs
CSOs as agents in supply chain
CSOs: role across, and as a link between, businesses
CSOs lack business skills & often inexperienced in engaging working in the private sector
CSOs: engage in various aspects of the WASH private sectors BUT little attention paid to sustainability of their role
Literature Findings
Incompatible philosophies• Outcomes for the poor: Business focus on profit, not
prioritising poor as customers• Sanitation Marketing: capture least poor customers 1st, to
create aspirational model for poorer to access safer sanitation
Complementary roles• Pro-poor innovation – matching match design and delivery
of WASH products to specific needs of the poor • Flexible pricing to enable poor households’ entry into
market
Findings: Evidence from the fieldIncompatible philosophiesDiversity of perspectives
• CSOs who didn’t see a big difference – cases of entrepreneurs with strong social motives
• Market based solutions running contrary to concepts of community self-sufficiency and sharing
“there are differences but not serious…it’s in line”
“I didn’t make any terms- 1 week, 1 month, 1 year-1.5 years- we’re not only about business, it is a social purpose”.
“The least you’re dependent on the market, the more you’re independent…when they have knowledge they have to share it, not keeping it for yourself…[it’s the] spirit of sharing.”
Findings: Evidence from the field
Complementary Roles“NGOs are funded on a project basis. But if [it] can transfer a project into a business opportunity then it can continue.”
“Donors can’t directly provide private sector because of regulations”
“…when people have been triggered [to want a toilet], and supply is needed, our role is to pass on information [about potential suppliers].”
• Intermediaries to allow support to be provided to PSE from donors or from government
• Ensuring long-term sustainability
Findings: Evidence from the field
Challenges
“…real entrepreneurs should sacrifice their own money to start a business”.
• Kind of support to provide to PSEs
• Avoid promoting specific enterprises
• Donor reporting requirements focused on short-term targets
• Lack of knowledge and interest in building PSE capacity amongst government
Emerging trends and pathways to address poverty
• Supporting ‘sustainable’ small-scale business is challenging, but possible
• Can’t assume the poor will be targeted- needs strategies to address this
• Social entrepreneurs, social-minded business blurs the boundary between private sector and civil society, and represents an important area of focus in addressing poverty
