The Role of Local Leadership
Facilitating the development of strong local leadership, especially in subnational government, is often seen as exogenous to water and sanitation program activities despite its importance for efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. In Cambodia, WaterSHED designed, piloted and scaled up a model to foster leadership amongst elected local government representatives to enable their constituencies to address key issues for community development, including the management of human waste and water. The Civic Champions leadership development project is embedded in a larger system development approach aimed to build a dynamic, sustainable market for improved sanitation products and services in rural Cambodia.
Our Inspiration
WaterSHED’s focus on leadership development was inspired by Sun Choeun, a village chief in Cambodia’s Kampong Speu province, who led his village to have 100% access to improved sanitation within four months after the local market for sanitation was developed. In the interview below he shares his secret recipe for success.
About WaterSHED
Since 2009, WaterSHED has used a systems-approach to build the rural market for water, sanitation, and hygiene products and services across Southeast Asia. Based in Cambodia, WaterSHED uses in-depth research to identify strategic opportunities and gaps in the wider system, and then works to strengthen the capacity and relationships between key actors to create a more dynamic and resilient market.
By engaging key actors in the system, including small businesses, customers, and local government, WaterSHED facilitates the adoption of toilets, water filters, and handwashing stations – building a market that functions independent of traditional aid. To date, WaterSHED’s Hands-Off marketing approach has successfully enabled small businesses to sell more than 170,000 toilets, generating more than USD $8 million in revenue for rural businesses, and helping accelerate sanitation coverage from a stagnant 25% to more than 50% in six years.