Sanitation financing: lessons learnt from application of different financing instruments in Busia county, Kenya

Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health in Kenya is a Dutch-Government funded project implemented in Busia and Kilifi Counties. The project is founded on a Public-Private Partnership arrangement to create an enabling environment for market-driven approach for scaling up sanitation. The intervention combines demand generation and private sector involvement in developing and delivering sanitation products and services to underserved rural communities. The mainstay strategy applied was Community Led Total sanitation plus (CLTS+) approach. The plus entails financial inclusion targeting communities without sanitation facilities through financial literacy and micro-lending for sanitation improvement. As part of supply side development, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in sanitation business having also been financially included to strengthen their capacity to respond to thus generated demand. A combination of expanded markets coupled with demand generation has contributed to access to improved sanitation, promising health and livelihood improvements.