Sanitation marketing in rural Zambia: a replicable business model

This paper describes a successful sanitation marketing project implemented by Government of Zambia and UNICEF that is part of a larger sanitation programme in rural Zambia. The aim of the sanitation marketing component is to build the capacity of the private sector, such as individual artisans, to provide sanitation services that fulfil a need for stronger, longer lasting toilets at affordable prices, particularly in areas with sandy/waterlogged soils. Innovation has centered on developing substructure designs that use locally available materials keeping the costs as low as possible in order to reach a larger market segment. Introduction of large heavy mass produced products is often limited due to high transport costs for sparsely populated rural areas. At time of writing 291 “entrepreneurs” have been trained and around half have been confirmed active achieving over 1,300 sales to households and institution.