What does it take to scale up rural sanitation

Over the last 30 years, most rural sanitation projects have had pockets of success, but were small in scale and could not be scaled up. Learning how to expand on the successes of small-scale projects to increase access at large scale has been an enduring challenge. Project outcomes often fail the sustainability test once external funding ceases, and the benefits, even if sustained, remain limited to project areas. Despite growing political will to do more about rural sanitation, the lack of evidence and examples of effective and sustainable large-scale rural sanitation programs has constrained governments and development partners. In an attempt to help address these issues, starting in 2007, the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) provided technical assistance to help governments design, plan, implement, and monitor national rural sanitation programs that start at scale and are sustainable. This initiative was carried out in three countries, India, Indonesia, and Tanzania. To increase the supply of sanitation products and services, efforts were made to build the capacity of local builders, manufacturers, and suppliers of sanitation products and services. In addition, in all three countries, national governments have developed, reformed, or improved national sanitation policies to become demand-responsive, and local governments have strengthened their capacity to facilitate community-led efforts to stop open defecation and to support the local private sector to build improved sanitation facilities.