Free ebook sharing the full proceedings and the main findings from the KfW Water Symposium 2009 Financing Sanitation.

The International Year of Sanitation's goal was to put the global community on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals MDG sanitation target. However, one year later, it is still difficult to keep sanitation high on the agenda, while practical action is required to encourage demand-driven and sustainable solutions.

With the German Ministry for Development and Cooperation, the European Investment Bank and the French Development Agency, KfW organised a Symposium to address this in four thematic sessions:

Session 1: Financing Change in Personal Hygiene Behaviour and Demand Creation for Sanitation Motivation

A rapid review of experiences in developed countries and evolving methods in developing countries to change hygiene and sanitation behaviors.  Relative costs and impacts, the role of institutional arrangements and linking hygiene behavior change and sanitation demand creation ("software investments") with hardware investments are examined. Includes considerations for development banks and financing agencies to engage in the scale-up of hygiene behavior change and sanitation demand creation.

Session 2: Targeting the Poor with Facilities and Improved Services Motivation

Interventions that can help the poor to access sanitation goods and services are examined, focusing on three types: use of low-cost technologies, use of micro-credit and use of targeted public finance to increase access to capital and recurrent costs of sustainable sanitation.
Targeted public finance, performance assessment, effectiveness, sustainability, public funding strategies and performance are analysed.

Session 3: Urban Spaces – How to Provide and Finance Service to Peri-urban Areas

New approaches to meet sanitation challenges of population growth and rapid urbanization are examined from a technical perspective Simplified solutions and semicentralised supply and treatment systems are examined.

Session 4: The Potential Role of Utilities in Sanitation Provision for Peri-urban Areas and Poor Target Groups

Poor sanitation service provision by local government authorities is addressed. Examples of how water supply and sanitation utilities can support peri-urban areas and poor groups with sanitation services are provided.
The difficulties of utilities to provide piped water and sewers in a commercially viable manner and the role of local government authorities, regulatory framework and education are highlighted.