Developing and Testing a Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Financial Tool

Abstract

Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) represents a paradigm shift in the provision of safely managed sanitation services with a framework of three outcomes—equity, safety and sustainability. There are several sanitation financial tools, but none of these fully address all CWIS outcomes. Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Financial Tool (CWIS-FiT) is an innovative decision-support tool designed to strengthen financial planning and integrate all CWIS outcomes. The tool captures both sewered and non-sewered systems, as well as low-income and non-low-income households, while accounting for non-infrastructure costs such as workforce safety and gender equity for sustainable sanitation. Applications in Kenya and Nepal demonstrate the tool's ability to estimate financial analysis and planning, tariffs and fee analyses for cross-subsidy simulations. By assessing CWIS indicators, CWIS-FiT enables inclusive scenario planning aligned with SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production) and provides a scalable approach to planning equitable, safe and sustainable sanitation investments.