The FINISH Mondial (FM) Technical Working Group (TWG), which supports the global FM programme on developing technical construction manuals for sanitation systems, institutionalising artisan training, and advising and sharing innovations in design and construction of sanitation systems, launched a sanitation design contest in April.

Considering the various disruptions due to COVID-19 restrictions, the deadline for submissions has been extended. The new deadlines are as follows:

  • New application submission deadline – 31 July 2020
  • New date for announcement of winners – 31 August 2020

We look forward to receiving more applications with the goal to find outstanding ideas and methodologies that will help us to bring down the costs of sanitation systems and help to scale the FM programme by making safe sanitation accessible and affordable to an increasingly wider group of people.

The goal of this sanitation contest is to challenge innovators to invent methodologies, ideas and refine processes that will help to reduce the cost of (part of) a few selected onsite sanitation systems.

In this contest, we are not looking for new technology breakthroughs, but small, incremental improvements to reduce the cost of 3 selected sanitation systems which are widely applied by the FM programme across 6 countries.

The onsite sanitation technologies considered in this contest include:

The date and place of the award ceremony will be post-COVID-19 lockdown and notified at a later stage. A first selection and evaluation will be made by the FINISH Mondial TWG. The TWG will shortlist 5 – 8 of the best solutions. The shortlist will then be passed on to an international jury comprising of specialists and experts in the sanitation field.

We are pleased to announce our esteemed panel of jurors includes:

The top three applications will be rewarded as follows:

  1. The first prize is € 3000 and the opportunity to implement the solution in the field in one of the FM countries;
  2. The second prize is € 2000 and acknowledgment on the FINISH Mondial platforms (social media, website); and
  3.  The third prize is € 1000 and acknowledgment on the FINISH Mondial platforms (social media, website).

In addition to informing you about the new application deadline, we would appreciate if you can spread the word and assist as in the effort to reach out to more potential applicants. The full Sanitation Challenge Call can be downloaded as a pdf here.

For any clarifications or questions, you can email our contest coordinator, Fadli, at finishmondialtechnical@waste.nl

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