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 Improves Sanitation & Health) programme was created to change that narrative — pioneering a holistic, market-based model that goes far beyond toilets to link sanitation with climate action, community health, and economic resilience.
Operating across six countries in East Africa and South Asia — including India, Kenya, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda — FINISH Mondial demonstrates that safe sanitation is not only a public health intervention but also a driver of sustainable, climate-resilient development.
1. Building Resilience: Sanitation and Climate Action
As the UN highlights, 80% of wastewater globally flows untreated into the environment, accelerating climate and water crises. FINISH Mondial’s work integrates circular economy principles to build systems that endure climate shocks and protect ecosystems.
• Bangladesh – Climate-Resilient Toilets (CRTs): In flood-prone Gaibandha, FINISH Mondial introduced elevated, durable toilets that remain functional during floods — protecting families and water sources from contamination.
• India – Waste to Resource: Faecal sludge and organic waste are converted into co-compost, reducing fertilizer dependency and improving soil health — helping farmers adapt to erratic rainfall while storing carbon in the soil.
• Tanzania – Protecting Lake Victoria: To stop pollution in Africa’s largest freshwater lake, the PuPu pump innovation enables safe pit-emptying, reducing waste seepage into water sources and strengthening local climate resilience. Read the story 
2. Ensuring Dignity: Sanitation and Public Health
Unsafe sanitation remains one of the world’s deadliest environmental risks — responsible for 432,000 deaths each year (WHO, 2022). FINISH Mondial’s inclusive sanitation systems directly prevent disease and improve dignity.
• Uganda – Ending Open Defecation: Through community-led sanitation campaigns, regions have achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, drastically reducing waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid.
• Ethiopia – Health-Focused Entrepreneurship: Female entrepreneurs like Salam Gari lead sanitation businesses that build toilets and offer pit-emptying services — protecting communities from exposure and promoting safe hygiene practices. Watch the video

• Kenya – Affordable Sanitation for All: Sanitation marketers connect households to microfinance, helping families build durable toilets with local materials — breaking barriers of affordability and improving child health outcomes.
3. Sustaining Change: Sanitation and Economic Empowerment
Globally, inadequate sanitation costs developing countries up to 5% of GDP (World Bank, 2019). FINISH Mondial redefines sanitation as a market opportunity that sustains itself through innovation and inclusion.
• India – Financing Scale: The Sanitation Impact Bond mobilizes private investment to expand access to safe toilets for low-income households.
• Tanzania – Grassroots Financial Inclusion: Partnering with Community Conservation Banks, FINISH Mondial supports WASH loans that make safe sanitation accessible and affordable for all.
• Ethiopia & Uganda – Green Jobs for a Green Future: Hundreds of local masons and youth entrepreneurs now earn income through sanitation service chains, fostering circular economies that sustain communities and the environment.
A Global Model for Integrated Development
FINISH Mondial’s integrated approach offers a blueprint for sustainable progress : linking sanitation to climate resilience, health equity, and inclusive growth. Through evidence-driven innovation, the programme demonstrates that investing in sanitation is not charity — it’s a catalyst for climate action, food security, and economic empowerment.
Call to Action
As the world marks World Toilet Day 2025 under the theme “We’ll Always Need the Toilet,” FINISH Mondial calls on Governments, investors, and changemakers to protect and expand access to sanitation in the face of ageing infrastructure, rising demand, and mounting climate pressures.
Sanitation is more than a basic service — it’s the foundation for a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable planet.