On September 24th, FINISH Mondial (FM) organised an online event to present the winners of our sanitation contest. The contest took place from April 28 to July 31 with the objective of coming up with innovative ideas, methods or processes that would reduce the costs and improve the quality of three existing sanitation systems that are widely used across the FM focus countries.  

During this period, we received 60 applications from 14 countries. These applications were reviewed by our Technical Working Group and 8 finalists were selected and announced prior to this event. The applications of the finalists were then reviewed by an international panel of jurors who selected three winners based on the idea, cost reduction, design and scalability, and impact of their innovations.  

The online event was hosted by Martin Muchangi (Amref Health Africa, Kenya), Henock Belete Asfaw (WASTE, the Netherlands) and Fadli (WASTE, Indonesia) who introduced FM, the contest and presented the guidelines for the contest before presenting the finalists. The eight finalists are as follows. Click on their names to view a video explaining their innovation. 

1. James Ryoba – Tanzania 
2. Titus Muthami Musyoka, Kenya 
3. Diana Mwende, Kenya 
4. Edwin Marita, Kenya 
5. Nicola Greene, Kenya 
6. Ashok Kumar Jain, India 
7. Yasin Ibrahim Abrar, Ethiopia 
8. Prit Salian and Kibuuka Owembabazi Ambrose, Germany 

During the event, Catherine Kisamwa (Head of Microfinance, Sidian Bank) spoke about the importance of having low-cost and well-designed systems. This opens the possibility for financing. Financing these systems helps both, households and communities.  

Valentin Post (CEO FINISH Mondial) presented a roadmap with information about the follow up to the contest. After the announcement of the winners, the prize money will be distributed. The solution of the first prize winner will be implemented in one of our focus countries, but not the country where the winner is from. In the coming months, we will keep the sanitation community updated on our website and social media. The solutions of contestants will be revisited to see if solutions can be combined. Lastly, Valentin also announced the possibility of a new contest and presented some ideas for contest themes. 

The most awaited moment of this event was the announcement of the winners by Jack Sim (Founder of World Toilet Organisation). The winners of the contest are as follows: 

In 3rd place, a tie between Diana Mwende, Kenya and James Ryoba – Tanzania for a prize of € 1000 each and acknowledgement on the FINISH Mondial platforms (social media, website). 

In 2nd place, Edwin Marita, Kenya won a prize of € 2000 and acknowledgement on the FINISH Mondial platforms (social media, website). 

And the winner at 1st place, Nicola Greene, Kenya won € 3000 and the opportunity to implement the solution in the field in one of the FM countries. 

We also held a vote to let the live audience decide their favourite innovation. A 1-minute video of each of the 8 solutions were presented to the audience. Edwin Marita, Kenya, who also finished second according to the Jury selection, won this category and a prize of € 1000, with his plastic moulds proposal being the crowd-favourite.  

Thanks to all the participants for sending in their innovations and congratulations to all the winners! 

If you missed this event, you can access the recording here.