From Idea to Impact:
|
Innovation in areas of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are not yet on India’s radar. However, this is an area of immense importance to any country and it's time we built the right ecosystem to enable it.
Listen to experts from government, civil society, the funding community and the private sector as they discuss the urgent need for greater investment and collaboration towards WASH-centric innovations. |
Key takeaways
- Only 10% of CSR funding -- totaling INR 71,000 crore -- has been routed towards the WASH sector; unlike education and healthcare, this sector hasn’t been prioritized.
- Innovation in municipal service delivery (particularly in areas of water, sanitation and hygiene) is not on India’s radar yet. It’s time to build the right ecosystem to make this happen.
- 50% of the sanitation workforce comprises women, and we need to look beyond them just being part of SHG networks. We need to think of women in sanitation playing technical, managerial and leadership roles.
- The sector needs a lifecycle approach to financing, where one looks at not just the idea, but what it takes to move it to proof of concept, pilot, and finally to scale.
- Philanthropic capital must be deployed as risk capital, to develop proof of concept. Currently, we are not seeing philanthropy take on this role. Instead, they seem to want guaranteed results, quarter on quarter.
- Since WASH interventions are predominantly funded by government, accessing working capital is hard for any entrepreneur. We need banks and NBFCs to address this issue.
- Given the complex and long-term nature of WASH solutions, entrepreneurs would benefit from support programs that run for 3-5 years. However, most accelerators are 3-9 months long and hence unable to adequately support innovative organizations.
- The city and town must be the unit at which solutions happen. However very little flexibility and authority is given to administrations at this level, financing is poor, and capacity is weak.
- Too much innovation has led to fragmentation of solutions. This is detrimental to the sector because without scale, longevity, and viability, business sustainability cannot be addressed and impact objectives will not be met.
session highlights
The financing gap to achieve India’s WASH-centric Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 has widened to more than USD 123 billion. The amount of government capital available for urban WASH is INR 450,000 crore over five years. In comparison, philanthropic capital to this sector is around INR 20,000 crore.
If philanthropy is able to drive focused innovation investments to this sector in partnership with the government, there’s a potential for a 10X multiplier effect financially. This will allow the various stakeholders to serve the most vulnerable communities in the country. But for it to happen, we need to scale innovation. While India has a booming entrepreneurial community, most ideas fail to reach scale due to the lack of a strong WASH ecosystem to support such innovations.
Keeping this in mind, our Learning Lab ‘From Idea to Impact’ brought together experts from the government, civil society, the funding community and the private sector to discuss the opportunity and urgent need for greater funding and collaboration towards supporting WASH-centric innovations.
If philanthropy is able to drive focused innovation investments to this sector in partnership with the government, there’s a potential for a 10X multiplier effect financially. This will allow the various stakeholders to serve the most vulnerable communities in the country. But for it to happen, we need to scale innovation. While India has a booming entrepreneurial community, most ideas fail to reach scale due to the lack of a strong WASH ecosystem to support such innovations.
Keeping this in mind, our Learning Lab ‘From Idea to Impact’ brought together experts from the government, civil society, the funding community and the private sector to discuss the opportunity and urgent need for greater funding and collaboration towards supporting WASH-centric innovations.
quotes
|
"We have to demystify what innovation in WASH really means. The knowledge gaps need to be filled so that people can collaborate." – Malini Reddy, ASCI |
|
"I failed many times in terms of design, execution, and partnerships. But when you take up something as a mission, and you want to do it, you will find a way out." – Namita Banka, Banka BioLoo |
|
"Innovations need to be hyperlocal; you can’t build an ecosystem in a state, you need to take a city-centric approach." - Chintan Bakshi, CIIE |
|
"We need to move fast to protect public health, improve liveability of cities, and drive human and economic development. It cannot be business as usual." – Professor Chary, ASCI |
|
"It is important to help move people from being innovators to entrepreneurs, and philanthropic capital can play a catalytic role in making this happen." – Divyang Waghela, Tata Trusts |
|
"If private players and government have to work together, they have to know and trust each other and work on the solving the problem jointly." – Manas Rath, Blue Water Company |
|
"We must move from individual innovation to ecosystem innovation." - Masood Mallick, Ramky |
Share this session's highlights with your network!