Section 1: Issue Identification

1.     What health inequity does your initiative aim to address? Which specific regions, populations, health disparities, etc.? Please be as specific as possible.

Banka Bio addresses the issue of public health inequity, where inadequate access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) leads to women and girls, being disproportionately bearing the socio-economic burden. Our, immediate and current, target is India – all states. Our solutions, to name a few beneficiaries, focus on women at home and workplaces, girls in schools. Inadequate WaSH, also, contributes to high mortality and morbidity, especially among the young children.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), 1.4 million deaths and 74 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) could have been prevented with safe WaSH. Likewise, 69% of diarrhea deaths are attributed to unsafe WaSH services.

2.     Why did your organization choose to prioritize this specific inequity/initiative for action?

Lack of access to WaSH leads to women and girls compromising on their dignity, security and health-hygiene; being forced to defecate in the open, for want of a toilet at home. Additionally, girls miss going to schools on many occasions, as also having to drop out, due to unavailability of WaSH facilities in educational institutes. These have been proven through on-ground survey and research.

Section 2: Initiative Overview

1.     Please provide an overview of your initiative / approach and which department owns it. (200-300 words)

Banka Bio has a deep commitment to ending open defecation; and implementing cost-effective, environmentally-conscious and socially-acceptable sanitation systems – true sustainable solutions.

The primary solution, the bio-toilet or bioloo, comprises an easy-to-install toilet structure (cabin), a bio-digester tank with bacterial inoculum in the tank, that treats fecal waste onsite.

The company serves a diverse set of users and clientele – railways, national and regional government entities, state-owned enterprises, publicly-traded and private companies, foundations and charities, non-profit organizations, construction and infrastructure sites, plantations, defense and paramilitary forces, by providing bioloos in trains, communities, schools, homes, institutes, offices, hotels, healthcare facilities, worksites such as manufacturing facilities, factories, mines and many similar settings.

The initiative is company-wide, and every employee is a champion of sustainable WaSH for all, at all places, at all times.

2.     Which of the four domains of health equity action (organization, offerings, community, ecosystem) does the initiative target? For additional context, please visit the GHEN website.

Our health equity action targets all the four domains: organization (our and others), offerings (our solutions have equitable outcomes), community (our WaSH solutions serve the communities where we provide the product and/or service), ecosystem (we collaborate with a variety of entities and partners, such as governments, civil society, other businesses, academia).

Section 3: Impact & Accountability

1.     What impact has the initiative achieved? Please be as specific as possible, focusing on outcomes rather than outputs.

Decrease in mortality and morbidity, including reduced water-borne diseases, lower healthcare-related expenditures by families, higher productivity – at homes and at workplaces, increased school attendance and reduced drop-outs, more so among girl students.

Additionally, women and girls have felt enhanced sense of dignity, security and improved health.

2.     How was impact measured: strategy, metrics used, tools employed, relevant standards, etc.?

Have taken external help to measure impact.

In case of school WaSH – we were supported by Business Call to Action’s (BCtA) Impact Lab. BCtA is housed within UNDP. The report can be read here www.businesscalltoaction.org/news/impact-case-study-banka-bioloo

For households, the impact assessment was carried out by Fellows of Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, a center of excellence of Santa Clara University. The report can be accessed here www.millersocent.org/portfolio/banka-bio

3.     How and where are you reporting impact (internally, externally)?

The impact assessment reports are shared internally, as also available for external stakeholders – through inclusion in annual report, and placed on website.

Section 4: Partnerships

1.     What organizations (e.g., civil society, public sector organizations, businesses, governments) did you partner with to complete this initiative? How did these partners contribute throughout the initiative’s lifecycle? What role in this partnership does your organization play (e.g., funder, convener, etc.)?

We have partnered different organizations for different user-groups.

For school WaSH, we collaborate with companies, and through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, undertake projects. For households, we work with governments, as they subsidize the household water and sanitation.

These partners participate in program finalization, and support the projects through partial or full funding. Our organization acts as implementing partner.

2.     How is the initiative actively involving impacted communities throughout the initiative lifecycle (e.g., in the identification and alignment of priorities, (co-)creation and delivery of interventions, in measurement and review, etc.)?

The communities and user-groups are actively involved in the initiative, through planning, and providing inputs and feedback.

Section 5: Learning & Next Steps

1.     How has the initiative evolved over time based on ongoing learnings, if at all?

The initiative has progressed well, and our organization reached new geographies and more users. Feedback and learning are incorporated in the next project(s).

2.     What is the future vision for the initiative / approach? Will it scale to other regions, translate to other drivers of health? What is the strategy for long-term sustainability?

The initiative began with one solution – the bioloo. Then, was developed fecal sludge treatment plant (FSTP); subsequently, was introduced packaged sewage treatment plant (PSTP), and finally STP as a Service (SaaS). Currently, the initiative is India-based; the vision is to take it to Africa. The model is replicable and scalable.

“Health equity is not a good-to-have but a must-have, if we want true development. Businesses, governments and the civil society have to go beyond business-as-usual approach, and effect true change through active interventions. I am glad that Banka Bio is, actively, pursuing health equity, and working on the ground through its sustainable solutions for access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH).” Sanjay Banka, Executive Chairman, Banka BioLoo