Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Scale-Up Program (CR-WASH-SUP)

Through a systems-strengthening and inclusive, market-based approach, iDE increased equitable access to and use of WASH services in rural Cambodia. iDE’s market based approach is four-fold and focuses on: 

1. Human Centered Design: Sanitation products and services tailored to local contexts and needs.

2. Strengthening Sustainable WASH Markets: Local sanitation businesses coached, strengthened and equipped to deliver affordable, climate-resilient sanitation solutions.

3. Demand Generation and Social Behaviour Change: Sales agents conduct door to door sales to generate demand, enabling long-term social behavior change.

4. Capacity Building: Local authorities supported to strengthen their knowledge on open defecation free (ODF) sustainability and climate change.

Since the inception of iDE’s WASH program in 2009, over two million people (approximately 412,000 households) have gained access to improved sanitation through iDE-connected entrepreneurs, representing one in five of all rural Cambodian households. By motivating stakeholders such as households, businesses, and local authorities to invest in their own sanitation solutions, iDE fosters a sense of local ownership and commitment, which is essential for sustaining achievements in dignified access to improved sanitation.

Rural households in sanitation-challenging environments (SCEs) face multiple challenges from seasonal flooding and high groundwater to dense, “low-infiltration” soils. These conditions often cause pour-flush latrines to fill quickly or fail, increasing the risk of unsafe fecal sludge management (FSM) and environmental contamination.

iDE applies the human-centered design (HCD) approach to develop climate-resilient, context-specific solutions. Products are developed with community input through interviews, prototyping, and field testing and continuously improved and iterated on based on user feedback. All products are built with locally available materials and prioritize affordability, durability, quality, and year-round functionality.

At the core of CR-WASH-SUP was a commitment to build resilient, inclusive rural sanitation economies driven by local sanitation entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs were coached and mentored on technical, financial, and marketing business skills on a weekly basis. iDE supported 20 sanitation businesses to cumulatively earn USD $432,074 in net revenue from sales of sanitation products and services. 94% of surveyed sanitation entrepreneurs agreed iDE helped them grow their businesses; 100% said it improved their impact in the community.

Powered by a network of professional, local sales agents, iDE connects with households to offer affordable sanitation solutions. During CR-WASH-SUP, iDE’s sales agents conducted 36,105 household sales presentations across Siem Reap. Using visual “sight sellers,” sales agents promote iDE’s WASH products as well as information on healthy sanitation behaviors. Through solution-oriented messaging, sales agents strive to understand the challenges facing their potential customers and tailor their presentations based on context-specific challenges or issues like flooding or pit overflow.

iDE equips local authorities with technical skills and tools to promote sustainable sanitation. iDE provides a gender-sensitive training of trainers (ToT) curriculum with three modules focused on WASH-related climate risk mitigation and behavior change. Additionally, iDE fosters relationships and networks between sanitation entrepreneurs and local authorities, including through commission-based sales referral agreements, ensuring ongoing sanitation demand in communities beyond the project’s duration. During CR-WASH-SUP, 169 district and commune-level authorities (59% women) were directly trained, who then trained 262 village-level authorities (63% women). Pre-and post-tests showed significant knowledge retention in sustainable ODF maintenance (from 59% to 98%) and in handwashing, child feces, and menstrual health management (from 72% to 90%). 

While CR-WASH-SUP laid the foundation for a more climate-resilient, inclusive, rural sanitation market system in Cambodia, the work is not finished. From 2025 onwards, iDE Cambodia’s WASH program intends to facilitate access to climate-resilient sanitation for the remaining households without basic latrines and scale up affordable, safely managed sanitation products and services to rural Cambodian households