anna gero incompatible philosophies or complementary roles?

Tim Brennan and John McKibbin

Incompatible Philosophies or Complementary Roles? Civil Society and Business Engagement in the Water, Sanitation And Hygiene Sector

THINKCHANGEDO

Development Futures Conference, November 21st – 22nd 2013

Anna Gero, Janina Murta, Lee Leong, Juliet Willetts

Emerging trends and pathways to address poverty

• Increasing recognition of need to use aid to leverage local investment

• Recognition of lack of sustainability of many aid programs and support

• Emergence of new organisational types including ‘socially’ minded business

“Enterprise in WASH”: Why this research?

Growing role of small-scale

business

Growing need to move beyond voluntary or

subsidised approaches

Mixed levels of skills within

CSOs to work with private

sector

Private & social enterprise

CSOs

+

=

?

Incompatible philosophies?

Complementary roles?

CSOs providing training, acting as intermediaries

Enterprise offering services

systematic review +evidence from field work in Indonesia

Private and social enterprise engagement with CSOs – what does it look like?

What are the outcomes for the poor resulting from enterprise engagement?

How aligned, or not, are the objectives and incentives of CSOs and enterprise?

Literature Findings: Business Models

• Formal private operators working under licence

• Franchises and network models

• Informal private sector providers

• Importers, Retailers, and Wholesalers

• “One stop shop” / “Rural Sanitation Marts” / “Sani-centres”

• Prefabricated concrete producers

• Micro entrepreneurs

• NGOs and CBOs

• User associations

• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)

• Large companies and international / multi-national corporations

Literature Findings: Business Models

• Formal private operators working under licence

• Franchises and network models

• Informal private sector providers

• Importers, Retailers, and Wholesalers

• “One stop shop” / “Rural Sanitation Marts” / “Sani-centres”

• Prefabricated concrete producers

• Micro entrepreneurs

• NGOs and CBOs

• User associations

• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)

• Large companies and international / multi-national corporations

Businesses are diverse, dynamic, respond to demand, context specific

Literature Findings: Private & social enterprise engagement with CSOs

CSOs: Sanitation Marketing: emerging trend for CSO engagement with businesses & government

CSOs: bottom-up role, capacity building, enterprise establishment; some policy-level support in water

CSOs: role in “formalisation” of CBOs

CSOs as agents in supply chain

CSOs: role across, and as a link between, businesses

CSOs lack business skills & often inexperienced in engaging working in the private sector

CSOs: engage in various aspects of the WASH private sectors BUT little attention paid to sustainability of their role

Literature Findings

Incompatible philosophies• Outcomes for the poor: Business focus on profit, not

prioritising poor as customers• Sanitation Marketing: capture least poor customers 1st, to

create aspirational model for poorer to access safer sanitation

Complementary roles• Pro-poor innovation – matching match design and delivery

of WASH products to specific needs of the poor • Flexible pricing to enable poor households’ entry into

market

Findings: Evidence from the fieldIncompatible philosophiesDiversity of perspectives

• CSOs who didn’t see a big difference – cases of entrepreneurs with strong social motives

• Market based solutions running contrary to concepts of community self-sufficiency and sharing

“there are differences but not serious…it’s in line”

“I didn’t make any terms- 1 week, 1 month, 1 year-1.5 years- we’re not only about business, it is a social purpose”.

“The least you’re dependent on the market, the more you’re independent…when they have knowledge they have to share it, not keeping it for yourself…[it’s the] spirit of sharing.”

Findings: Evidence from the field

Complementary Roles“NGOs are funded on a project basis. But if [it] can transfer a project into a business opportunity then it can continue.”

“Donors can’t directly provide private sector because of regulations”

“…when people have been triggered [to want a toilet], and supply is needed, our role is to pass on information [about potential suppliers].”

• Intermediaries to allow support to be provided to PSE from donors or from government

• Ensuring long-term sustainability

Findings: Evidence from the field

Challenges

“…real entrepreneurs should sacrifice their own money to start a business”.

• Kind of support to provide to PSEs

• Avoid promoting specific enterprises

• Donor reporting requirements focused on short-term targets

• Lack of knowledge and interest in building PSE capacity amongst government

Emerging trends and pathways to address poverty

• Supporting ‘sustainable’ small-scale business is challenging, but possible

• Can’t assume the poor will be targeted- needs strategies to address this

• Social entrepreneurs, social-minded business blurs the boundary between private sector and civil society, and represents an important area of focus in addressing poverty

Thank you

Contacts: Anna.Gero@uts.edu.au; Juliet.Willetts@uts.edu.au; Janina.Murta@uts.edu.au