A healthy sanitation market is key to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.2. This ambitious target calls for adequate and equitable sanitation for all by 2030. Existing processes to design and prioritize sanitation interventions often have a limited focus on issues of equity, sustainability and safety. Athena Infonomics, in collaboration with Aguaconsult and ESAWAS, is supporting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a citywide sanitation planning tool.

The EquiServe Tool (formerly the Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Service Assessment and Planning Tool) seeks to help city authorities design better-informed sanitation interventions. It analyzes and illustrates the outcomes of possible interventions—including investments, but also changes to pricing and regulation—and provides decision-makers with a means of systematically evaluating their options and identifying those that cost-effectively promote universal access to safely managed sanitation. The tool is designed in collaboration with regulators and service providers and is being tested and rolled out in six countries in Africa and Asia.

To access the tool and learn more about the project, visit www.equiserve.io.