The Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) is a multi-donor United Nations trust fund that aims to help large numbers of people in developing countries improve their sanitation and adopt good hygiene practices. GSF is an innovative way to finance sustainable development.
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Scope
Currently, 2.4 billion people lack access to decent sanitation, and close to a billion people defecate in the open. Diarrheal disease, a preventable disease largely caused by poor sanitation and hygiene, is a leading cause of child malnutrition and mortality, claiming around 760,000 lives of children under 5 every year.
The GSF, along with a diverse range of sector actors, aims to help address the sanitation and hygiene crisis by enabling tens of millions of people to live in open defecation free (ODF) environments and access adequate toilets and handwashing facilities. These activities are also aimed at supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to sanitation and hygiene. The United Nations system has identified global funding for sanitation and hygiene as key to enabling member countries to achieve their national development targets.
The GSF funds behaviour change activities to help large numbers of poor people in hard to reach areas attain safe sanitation and adopt good hygiene practices. These activities are described as being community-based, supporting national efforts, and bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders. The GSF works with a range of prominent entities in the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors including the World Bank, Water Aid, UN-Water, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Global Poverty Project and the CLTS Foundation.
Community-led total sanitation is frequently utilized by GSF-funded national programmes, such as in Cambodia and Nigeria.
Countries of operation
The GSF currently funds national programmes in Benin, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda. Results to-date are: 6.62 million people with access improved toilets; 10.87 million people in 47,109 communities living in open defecation free environments; and 15.69 million people with access to handwashing facilities.
Funding
Governments in the following countries, mainly through the development assistance programmes, have contributed to the GSF. They are:
History
The GSF was established by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) to boost financing to countries with high needs for improved sanitation. It was first established in 2007, in response to the United Nations Human Development Report for 2006, which raised the issue of the global sanitation crisis.