A $9.99 million development impact bond (DIB) that is supporting 1,600 villages to become open defecation free in six Cambodian provinces by 2023.
The Cambodia Rural Sanitation DIB is the world’s first Development Impact Bond for sanitation and uses results-based finance to eradicate high rates of open defecation and accelerate the Cambodian government’s efforts to reach universal sanitation.
It is a partnership between the Stone Family Foundation, iDE, and USAID, with support and facilitation by Social Finance.
The Stone Family Foundation is providing the upfront risk capital, in the form of an investment, required to achieve sanitation outcomes, which will be delivered through the third phase of iDE’s effective Sanitation Marketing Scale Up program.
USAID is providing up to $9.99m in outcomes funding to the Stone Family Foundation, but only where results (open defecation-free villages) are achieved.
The DIB model allows iDE and the Stone Family Foundation to learn, adjust, and innovate in order to achieve the goal of 1,600 open defecation free villages while reaching the most vulnerable households.
The DIB aims to develop market-based solutions that will contribute to universal sanitation coverage in six provinces (Svay Rieng, Kandal, Prey Veng, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap and Oddar Meanchey)—reducing stunting among children, preventing the spread of disease and contamination of drinking water.
This supports the Cambodian government’s aim of eliminating open defecation by 2025—five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals target of 2030.