Official Launch of the First Results-based Financing Contract for Container-Based Sanitation in Haiti

SOIL is delighted to announce our groundbreaking partnership with IDB Lab’s Outcomes for Change Fund (OCF) in Haiti – the first large-scale Outcomes Fund to be implemented in a fragile country context and small island developing state. We are thrilled to be part of the first cohort of partners to be piloting this innovative results-based financing mechanism in Haiti. This 18-month collaboration will allow SOIL to quickly expand the EkoLakay service into some of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Cap-Haitien, increasing impact and setting a precedent for a new way to leverage development aid in a strategic and catalytic way.

This  partnership with the Outcomes for Change Facility is the result of several years of discussions between the main project partners: SOIL, IDB Lab, our longtime donor the Vitol Foundation, Levoca Impact Labs and key government stakeholders including the Haitian Government Sanitation Authority (DINEPA) and the Ministry of Public Health. The goal of the partnership is to demonstrate a mechanism for increasing aid effectiveness by paying only for results achieved, while simultaneously creating a model for how development banks and philanthropic partners can support the scaling up of public service provision in a way that builds a bridge to future public sector financing and leadership. 

The collaboration aims to enhance SOIL’s financial sustainability while allowing us to ramp up our service capacity over the coming year with a plan to expand our customer base by 900 households (~5,400 people). The SOIL sales staff and research team have been going door to door, identifying families living in highly vulnerable neighborhoods in Cap-Haitien, Limonade and Caracol where SOIL currently has limited or no operational presence, to bring on as new customers, prioritizing the most vulnerable households in high-risk flood zones that currently lack improved sanitation. In preparation for this sizable expansion, SOIL conducted surveys in the blocks selected to document key demographic data and current sanitation practices to provide a baseline for tracking changes in community sanitation coverage over the course of the service expansion. 

In October, SOIL’s long-time partner the Vitol Foundation provided the seed funding to allow SOIL to jumpstart the expanded operations by making the critical human resource and capital investments to position the service for scale. In December, the agreement between SOIL and IDB Lab was officially signed, creating the conditions for the Outcomes for Change facility to release quarterly payments to the EkoLakay service based on the number of new clients added to the service since October first. The partnership agreement also provides for a premium bonus payment linked to a 10 - 15% increase in improved sanitation access in the target communities.  

In addition to registering and servicing new households, SOIL will use the data collected throughout the project to identify households most in need of improved sanitation and to test how various financial incentives, including differential pricing, influence customer behavior and retention, while identifying the most effective strategies to change behavior and reduce open defecation. 

Bringing together multiple partners committed to delivering better results in Haiti, the OCF demonstrates how new financing mechanisms that pay for service based on results can amplify the impact of donor aid and development finance, shifting the mindset around aid-delivery in a fragile context. We are proud to be a part of this innovative shift in the sanitation sector which seeks to develop a strategic financing mechanism to ensure basic service delivery in areas where government infrastructure is absent and look forward to transparently sharing lessons learned with practitioners around the globe.