Programme FINISH stands for Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health and is being supported and implemented since 2009 by an Indian-Dutch consortium comprising banks, insurance companies, NGOs and academic and government institutions from the two countries. Its objective is to diffuse 1 million safe sanitation systems to low income communities in rural India through mobilizing funds from end-user households. Under the FINISH programme, micro-credit and financial schemes are targeted to be combined with life and health micro-insurance packages to incentivize household investment towards toilets. Simultaneously, there is also investment in local capacity building in the installation and maintenance of toilets and disposal of toilet waste.
In the above perspective, the objective of the present workshop is to explore how these conditions are being satisfied in rural sanitation investments in India, and in particular, explore how the founding and implementing partners of FINISH can respond to the challenges that are unique to the penetration of Sanitation and Financial Inclusion Services in Rural India to enable greater attainment of the countries Millennium Development Goals.
