The City Council of Blantyre has initiated a pay toilet at the Bangwe market. The public toilet is owned by the city council and is managed by the private entreprise Blantyre Waste Concern.

This concept is based on the Diamond Business Approach as developed by the Dutch-based non-governmental organisation Waste Netherlands.

Also involved in the initiative is the Malawi-based non-governmental organisation Ayise.

Private sector as core stakeholders
The Diamond Business Approach is an institutionalized business approach that is system-oriented and driven by demand and supply mechanisms.

Core stakeholders are therefore the private sector and its clients, such as households, landlords, municipalities. But also organizations that enable the business environment, such as financial institutions and local authorities.

Other organizations, such as (local) NGOs or consultants, have supportive roles.

A crucial element in the business model is the collection and processing of sludge.

Up and running ‘diamond’s in seven countries
WASTE aims to set up sustainable sanitation systems in all seven countries in which the organisation is active.

It is their objective that by the end of 2015 ‘functioning diamonds’ in which all stakeholders know their roles and responsibilities and act accordingly, are up and running.

A diamond is functioning when:
• toilets are being built and will continue to be built beyond 2015 without the need for donation
• there is a demand for toilets among households and landlords
• loans are being provided by local (micro) finance institutions
• people pay back their loans
• local entrepreneurs are being trained to construct toilets of good quality
• ownership is taken by one of the four core stakeholders
• the safe disposal, treatment and processing of sludge is arranged

WASH entrepreneurs
Waste Netherlands is supported by the Dutch WASH Alliance that wants to create a functioning WASH market and WASH public sector, aiming to increase access to improved sanitation facilities.

Profit is seen as supporting the sustainability of a solution, and scaling up a solution can happen more naturally when there is a revenue model involving WASH entrepreneurs, financial institutions and a supporting public sector.