Country: India
Organization: SULABH INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANISATION
2) Sector of activity: Consumer Products
3) Description of your products or services: 3. To improve sanitation in peri-urban, urban, as well as rural areas Sulabh provides on-site sanitation units i.e., two pit powe flush toilets for household wastes and pay & use public toilets in slums, and at public places like markets, bus stands etc. Improvement of sanitation directly improves quality of a community health & hygiene. The system of two-pit poor flush is scientifically appropriate, socially acceptable and low cost than the other existing technologies like septic tanks and sewerage system. Production and utilization of biogas from public toilet is an innovative and low cost technology for on site- treatment of waste water. Produced biogas is being used for cooking, lighting and electricity generation and the effluent of biogas plant, through simple and convenient technology turns into colourless, odourless and pathogen free liquid-suitable for reuse as agriculture, horticulture and leaving of floors of public toilets.
4) Description of the operational model: 4. There is a set social marketing approach for Sulabh, which provides awareness, motivation, different models of low cost units for household toilets, door-to- door compaign, involvement of health sectors in sanitation compaign, public participation, involvement of women.
5) Description of the financial model: 5. People pay directly for the household toilets. Public toilets are based on the pay & use basis where people pay for maintenance of the system. Public toilets, there is round the clock service. Caretakers live in the complex that take care of collection of user’s charge as well as maintenance of the toilet complexes. These toilet complexes are self sustained so far maintenance is concerned. Local bodies pay construction cost of the system-one time. Thereafter Sulabh takes maintenance guarantee of the system for atleast 30 years, that can further be extended.
Client fees represent this approximate percentage of operational budget: 10%
6) Key operational partnership: 6. Main partnership is mainly local bodies and local beneficiaries. However, during recent years many co- operate bodies came forward to fund public toilets in slums and other areas. Toilet complexes in urban areas are being used for advertisement also. Such corporate bodies and other entrepreneurs use the walls of public toilets for such advertisement of their products.
7) Current outreach:
We are at the Scaling Up stage. 7. Provision of individual toilet and pay & use public toilets are going on since 1974.
How many clients have benefited from your product/service in total? Over the last year? 1.2 million individual toilets have been implemented. There are over 6000 Sulabh public toilets used by over 10 million people everyday.
What percentage of your clients is below the poverty line ($2 per day)? 50% More than 50%.
What is the order of magnitude of the potential demand for your products or services? Which
other low-income groups, countries or regions could benefit from it? Try to quantify (number
of clients, market size in currency):
Low-cost sanitation technology is required to all people where sewerage system is not available. In Asia alone, there are 2 billion population without having such improved sanitation facilities. Keeping at lowest price of US$100 per unit and 5 members in a family approximately, US$ 40 billion is required to met the challenge.
8) Scale-up strategy:
How many low-income individuals do you plan to benefit in three years from now? How are you planning to scale up or replicate your solution? What are the major constraints to scale up?
Process and Technology/methodology is going on. We are planning to reach other 5 million in next thre years.
Which specific areas - and why - in your field would benefit most from investment by corporations, foundations, and other investors:
Sanitation and waste-water management. These would help improve sanitation, health, productivity to common people in India.
9) The organization: How does the initiative fit with your overall organization's strategic goals and priorities? How did the initiative start?
Improvement of sanitation in slums and downtrodden is the basic objective of Sulabh. The initiative started in 1974 with a objective to liberate and rehabilitate scavengers from inhuman practice of cleaning of human excreta from bucket privies.
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10) On the mosaic diagram, which of these factors is the primary focus of your work?
- Factor: Limited purchasing power of individual clients
- Principle: Design products and services that tap into the wealth of poor
Contact Information:
Name: Dr Bindeshwar Pathak
Organization: SULABH INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANISATION
Mailing address: SULABH BHAWAN, MAHAVIR ENCLAVE, PALAM-DABRI ROAD, NEW DELHI
Country: India
Email: sulabhacademy@vsnl.net
Tel: 91-11-25031518, 25031519, 25032617
Fax: 91-11-25036122, 25034014
Website: www.sulabhinternational.org; www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org
Organization's legal status: Registered Under SOCIETIES REGISTRATION ACT 1860
Number of Employees: 50,000
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