Our Mission

Water subsidies disproportionately benefit higher-income households—a result consistent across the 10 countries analyzed in the recent World Bank report, Doing More With Less - Smarter Subsidies for Water Supply and Sanitation.

Across the 10 countries analyzed—Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, Bangladesh, and Vietnam—existing subsidies tended to target networked services. Since many poorer households rely on water and sanitation access that are not connected to their homes, there is a disproportionate focus of existing subsidies that benefit wealthier families. Read More. 

The percentage of people with cell phone subscriptions is now higher than those using sanitation services. In 2000, only 12% of the global population had mobile phone subscriptions. In 2015, the rate is near 97% — a trend consistent across world regions.

These increases in cell phone users far exceed the number of people using at least basic sanitation services, which encompass improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. In 2015, approximately 70% of the global population used at least basic sanitation services — a rate that only increased by 10 percentage points in the last 15 years. Read More.