National sanitation subsidy protocol

This subsidy protocol is updated version of an earlier one and has been prepared to enable Ethiopia to achieve its goal of attaining Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 - universal access to basic sanitation services by 2030 and Health Sector Transformation Plan II goals by 2025.

This updated protocol specifies a clear rationale for the need to subsidise sanitation, provides guiding principles, and proposes modalities (i.e., selection criteria for beneficiaries and delivery mechanisms) for implementing sanitation subsidies in Ethiopia. The updated protocol gives special weight to two important features of a subsidy: smart and targeted.

A smart sanitation subsidy does not distort or hamper market-based sanitation and Community-Led Total Sanitation and Hygiene (CLTSH) approaches, but rather contributes to the expansion thereof. A targeted sanitation subsidy specifically addresses the most vulnerable population groups who are not able to construct improved sanitation facilities on their own due to their extreme poverty and/or impending environmental factors.

Finally, the Federal Ministry of Health is fully committed to making sure this protocol is used by all sanitation, hygiene, and environmental health stakeholders, and calls upon the private sector, entrepreneurs, and development partner organizations to use this protocol consistently for the improvement of sanitation, hygiene, and environmental health facilities and services across the country.