Abstract
What is needed for the private sector to successfully establish itself as a key player in delivering sustainable sanitation in the Global South? The present paper aims to offer some answers to this through the case of Peepoople AB, a company delivering a single-use biodegradable toilet bag in informal settlements. The company aimed to but failed in combining sustainable development of sanitation and financial gain for investors. We suggest that explanations for the failure can be found in the interaction between the company and the development– and aid organisations already involved in sanitation development. Through Strategic Niche Management, we look at whether the company managed to create relevant social networks, expectation dynamics and learning processes. The company gained legitimacy with end users, but failed to gain legitimacy in the development sector as it did not prioritise the kind of learning and competence considered relevant in the sector.
Highlights
Nowadays the private sector has been assigned a key role in development, with significant hopes placed on quicker, more efficient and consumer-oriented sustainable development (Bitzer and Glasbergen, 2015; Ghosh and Rajan, 2019; Hall and Lobina, 2006; McEwan et al, 2017)
This paper presents a case in which a new sanitation solution, the Peepoo bag developed by the Swedish company Peepoople AB, aimed to combine profit for investors with development improvements in informal settlements
The meeting was attended by 31 participants engaged in sanitation and development in Kenya, including several NGOs working with sanitation issues in Kibera, city and county government officials, researchers who had been involved in the development and trials of the Peepoo bag from Sweden and Kenya, and former staff of Peepoople AB
Summary
Nowadays the private sector has been assigned a key role in development, with significant hopes placed on quicker, more efficient and consumer-oriented sustainable development (Bitzer and Glasbergen, 2015; Ghosh and Rajan, 2019; Hall and Lobina, 2006; McEwan et al, 2017). In response to the sanitation challenge, the sector has seen an increased interest in the role of private investment and innovations, for urban informal settlements in the Global South. The increasing participation of the private sector in sanitation development warrants a closer scrutiny of how the sector integrates with the established development apparatus of large government and intragovernmental organisations and NGOs that have historically dominated the sanitation regime in the Global South.
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