Yes! That is an interesting challenge that will require some creative thinking to solve.
Thanks everyone - that brings us to the end of this live session. We'll leave this discussion open, so please do continue to post your comments. Thank you to the panel and all of you who joined us today!
Be sure to check out the water and sanitation blogs, products and services in the Design Expo: http://designexpo.businessfightspoverty.org/
And join us live now for a Google Hangout with Mike Roberts, Country Director, Cambodia at iDE, and Jack Sim, Founder of BoP World Convention & Expo and Founder, World Toilet Organisation: http://community.businessfightspoverty.org/page/design-expo-2014-google-hangout-successful-product-and-service-de
Fully agree with you Tara, business cannot do this alone, it's only one piece of the cake. Public private partnership are one solution.. Maybe The JMP initiative from WHO/UNICEF is providing one part of the question by promoting this idea of measuring the sustainability on the long scale and it might bring a comprehensive methode to guide and harmonises estimates of water and sanitation on the national scale.(http://www.wssinfo.org/)
One last challenge is to also bring immediate and continuous improvements whereas many ideas take long time to break through or to be integrated in NGO/government programmes...
A rather long winded answer to this. I'd like to tell one of my favouite stories:
I went to a lecture by the wonderful Robert Chambers. He wheels out a 1990's style projector with handwritten overheads (yes those still exist!!). He, in his wonderfully mumbling voice gives a 30 min lecture on sustainability in the WASH sector. Halfway through the last sentence he throws down his notes and says, "I gave that lecture 10 years ago. It is still relevant. Discuss"
I think we have enough problems that we haven't solved yet, without discussing the "next big issue"
The vast majority of latrines are built using household resources with no subsidy, and always have been. The main subsidies has been for sewers and treatment plants which generally benefit the richer segment of a city. Hardware subsidies in rural area have had a minimal impact and have generally be used to prop up demand for poorly designed products,. We have to move on fro expecting governments to subsidize.
Subsiding promotion is a different matter