Strengthening municipal finance for sustainable sanitation service delivery in small towns of South Asia
Bangladesh, India and Nepal have significantly improved basic sanitation services to people who do not have access. However, the safe management of toilet waste is still in its infancy. Delivering safe and inclusive sanitation services along the whole service chain requires considerable investment. Towns must be able to raise, allocate and manage the finances needed to build the physical infrastructure, to operate and manage sanitation services in the long term, and to strengthen the capacities and institutions required to deliver inclusive sanitation services in a sustainable way. This report by Athena Infonomics and WaterAid delves into the difficulties of financing sanitation in small towns in South Asia. The study documents good practices in funding urban sanitation, using six small towns as case studies: Jhenaidah and Sakhipur in Bangladesh; Dhenkanal and Sircilla in India; and Mahalaxmi and Birtamod in Nepal. The case studies offer lessons on how other towns can improve the sustainability of their sanitation services.
