The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Sanitation Financing Partnership Trust Fund has received $8 million replenishment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, further scaling up the partnership between the two institutions to improve access to safe sanitation in Asia and the Pacific.
“As of 2022, the trust fund has leveraged over $1.64 billion in ADB investments on citywide inclusive sanitation (CWIS) projects in ADB developing member countries (DMCs),” said ADB press statement received here Thursday.
“This replenishment brings the foundation’s financial contribution to the trust fund to $27 million since 2013,” it added.
“We highly appreciate the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s continued support to the Sanitation Financing Partnership Trust Fund,” said ADB Water and Urban Development Sector Office Senior Director Norio Saito.
“This contribution will help ADB scale up and magnify the impact of our initiatives to improve access to safe sanitation in the region,” Saito added.
This new funding will help advance ADB’s focus on addressing climate resilience in sanitation infrastructure and services while helping make these services affordable, safe, inclusive, and effective.
The trust fund was established in 2013 to promote investments in fecal sludge management, focusing on establishing markets, regulatory frameworks, and innovative business models that facilitate the delivery of non-piped sanitation and septage management services in DMCs.
The trust fund also aims to accelerate the adoption of the CWIS approach to promote adequate, equitable, and inclusive sanitation service solutions in the region.
Since its creation, the trust fund has helped improve sanitation of 13.93 million people in the region. Out of the $1.64 billion leveraged investments in CWIS projects, around $410 million were channeled towards non-sewered sanitation and fecal sludge management projects.
The trust fund is part of ADB’s Water Financing Partnership Facility, which mobilizes financial and knowledge resources from development partners to support ADB’s operations in the water sector.—APP
