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Pakistan has taken an important step towards improved sanitation through a major sector assessment and setting up of a core group that seeks to move communities beyond open defecation free (ODF) status. WSP, an international engineering consulting agency, is a member of this group.

Over the last five years in Bangladesh, more than 90 million people have moved away from open defecation. While 88 percent of the population now have access to, and are using latrines, ensuring the quality and sustainability of these latrines is crucial.

Without ready access to micro-credit and in the absence of well marketed technology options, many households are under pressure to move from very low cost to very high cost technology options with a significant debt burden.

The Association for Social Advancement(ASA), a leading Micro-Finance Institution, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Dhaka Ahsania Mission, a national NGO, to provide loans at low interest to local small entrepreneurs for producing, marketing, and promoting appropriate sanitation technology options.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission will pilot the new financing mechanism in Jamalpur Sadar Upazilla (a sub district) with trained entrepreneurs. WSP facilitated this process of linking local private manufacturers with micro-finance agencies to bring finance and technology together to make available a range of affordable sanitation options for households.