By Mengistu Teshome, Dereje Bekele and Anja Bruschweiler Debritu Amare’s home lies tucked away in a back alley of Bedhatu Kebele, a dense slum on the edge of Adama, one of Ethiopia’s fastest-growing cities. Here, there are few private places. The streets are narrow, the homes packed tightly together, and one of life’s most basic
Across rural India, women-led Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are demonstrating that entrepreneurship can be a powerful catalyst for both economic empowerment and improved sanitation. While many of these groups already produce locally relevant and environmentally friendly cleaning products, limited business skills and market access often prevent them from reaching their full potential. Through the FINISH Mondial
For more than three decades, Edna Mashaka, a widow from Tanzania's Mara Region, adapted to life with a traditional pit latrine that was inconvenient, difficult to maintain, and inaccessible for her son, who lives with a disability. Although it served its basic purpose, the facility posed daily challenges for the family and did little to
By Grace Okwisa and Anja Bruschweiler How a Kenyan plumber turned social entrepreneur is transforming community health and challenging expectations The first time Gloria Nduku Mutua picked up a plumber’s wrench, people were shocked. Some even laughed. “They said, ‘A woman in overalls with a wrench?’” she recalls. But Gloria wasn’t trying to make a
The year 2026 marks a defining moment for Africa’s water and sanitation sector, with the African Union declaring it the year of “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.” Collective action is now more urgent than ever to realise the vision of safe sanitation and clean drinking
Valentine a senior mason trained by the FINISH Mondial Program standing next to one of the improved latrines that he constructed in Kamwenge District, Western Uganda. Valentine welcomes us to his home on a small hill on the outskirts of Masaka, a newly built house that reflects just how far he has come.
Mason and Landlord, Eric next to his newly constructed toilets In many low-income urban communities, the biggest barrier to improved sanitation is not the lack of demand but the lack of access to finance. For Eric, a mason and landlord living in Manyatta Kaego, a low-income settlement in Kisumu, Kenya, this reality shaped
When the Government of India proudly declared the nation ’Open Defecation Free (ODF)’, the management of Sabrimala Microfinance in Odisha celebrated the achievement like the rest of the country. It was a historic milestone, a sign of progress, and a matter of pride. But soon after, a proposal landed on their table that made them
We are thrilled to share our latest feature in Smart Water Magazine, showcasing the innovative Climate-Resilient Toilets (CRTs) . In flood-prone regions of Bangladesh, families often lose access to safe sanitation when waters rise , exposing communities to disease and contamination. FINISH Mondial is helping change this reality through Climate-Resilient Toilets (CRTs): elevated, durable, and
The global sanitation challenge remains vast: 3.5 billion people still lack safe sanitation (UN-Water, 2023). Yet, too often, efforts are confined to a single, narrow solution: building toilets. While essential, this approach overlooks the deeper opportunity to address interconnected crises — from climate change to public health and economic inequity. The FINISH Mondial (Financial Inclusion
