On Thursday, May 5, Global Water Challenge (GWC) held a webinar entitled, The Sanitation Economy: Where Impact and Investment Meet, featuring the newly-established Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF). 

Situated within the UN, SHF’s mission is raise, catalyze and invest resources to accelerate delivery of sustainable sanitation, hygiene and menstrual health services in urban and rural settings with the highest burden and lowest ability to respond. Learn more about this innovative new mechanism for advancing universal access to WASH.

During the webinar, we heard from the SHF and leading finance experts on how activating national sanitation economies through innovative financing, can take local sanitation, hygiene and menstrual health efforts to scale, profit and impact.

Presenters and Keynote Speakers included:

Monica Ellis – CEO, Global Water Challenge

Dominic O’Neill – Executive Director, The Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF)

Alexandra Knezovich – Managing Director – Market Development & Communications, The Toilet Board Coalition (TBC)

John Sauer – Senior Technical Advisor, WASH, PSI

Jennifer Blanke – Sanitation and Hygiene Fund Board Member, Expert on economic development and development finance. Former VP Agriculture, Human and Social Development AfDB and Chief Economist, World Economic Forum

Frannie Leautier – Sanitation and Hygiene Fund Board Member, Senior Partner, SouthBridge Group and CEO of SouthBridge Investments. Former senior VP at AfDB, VP at the World Bank Group

Susan K. Barnett – Principal, Cause Communications, Former ABC/NBC News network journalist, Founder, Faiths for Safe Water