Finish Society

  Elevate is offering great opportunity to committed organizations like FINISH Society which harbor  a vision for healthier and socio-economically empowered communities in india and other countries. We foresee  expertise, know how, process design and capacity building during the two years of interactive engagement, leading to scalable models, will play a crucial role in addressing challenges which we envisage during our scaling up activities. .

FINISH believes that “ Partnerships” are  critical for reaching ambitious targets ( 3 Million Households by 2025) and focus on developing synergies with organizations like Financial Institutions viz Impact Investors, Funds, Banks and Micro finance Institutions (26+ partners across India), Corporates ( 15 large Companies), Communities ( 50 Districts and 11 states), and Government  Institutions (several State Governments and Municipalities), require conceptualization, process designing, platforms, administrative and team building  knowledge and leadership at various levels .

In order to reach our visionary goals that include project funding, complimentary resources are needed to address these challenges.  Undoubtedly,  we  belief that Elevate Prize Team’s Engagement and financial reward will help FINISH  in a  significant manner.

FINISH has already established its scaling up potential where learnings from india are being transferred to a 6-nation based ambitious Program called “ FINISH Mondial”.

As a young corporate executive with wind under my wings and a yen to excel in a resurgent  India, our  Founding Members and I  decided to change course from a profit-driven micro-insurance MNC to the social sector where poverty alleviation became the goal and vision of a new India that we envisaged. This was in the year 2009. Our work so far involved developing financial Inclusive solutions in the insurance domain which is one of the key factors responsible for the Poverty cycle. We worked with Non Profit entities and Micro finance institutions in the most challenging rural environment. 

Our  dream project Finish society took  shape in 2009 where key leaders along with myself  decided to become part of a new belief system. We were supported by DGIS (Govt of Netherlands ) and International NGO Waste in one of the most ambitious result oriented project named FINISH Society which is driven by the acronym - Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health

Whatever we do in FINISH is about people – do a people centric model which was also scalable at optimal cost. Getting proper sanitation is a life changer. It changes people’s lives in terms of pride and social well-being, it saves time and money and helps people in achieving their own goals. 

FINISH Society, a multi-state not-for-profit organisation aims to promote sustainable and equitable development of water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) & waste management sectors in India. FINISH Society works with a holistic, sustainable approach linking key local stakeholders to tackle development problems and develop local WASH and waste management solutions. Awareness generation along with economic incentives and enterprise development are key tools used to improve the lives of poor rural and peri-urban households.

FINISH Mondial, a six-nation inititative  is an ambitious programme FINISH Society is pioneering, aiming to substantially scale up  access and use of safe sanitation  across East Africa and South Asia. The program is developed and implemented by Dutch consortium partners WASTE, Amref Flying Doctors and Aqua for All with FINISH Society as the lead implementing partner in India. As a consortium, we have set ambitious targets. In the period 2020-25, 10 million people will have gained safe sanitation which equals 20% of the Dutch Government sanitation (SDG 6) target till 2030. This will be achieved through the realisation of at least 2 million safely managed sanitation systems. FINISH employs a holistic approach prioritising sustainability and financing. FINISH is addressing both supply and demand sides of the global sanitation challenge.

FINISH started in India (2009) with the aim of building a local system to deliver sanitation services on a large scale. Based on a multi-stakeholder approach, the aim was to build local sustainable systems for improved sanitation taking a totally novel approach. This is achieved by a combined effort of four key local stakeholders (communities, governments, businesses & financiers) who jointly work towards the development of local sanitation markets for inclusive scale. Local market mechanisms have been developed to benefit local communities, children have improved access to school sanitation, financial institutions found new markets and small businesses found space in the sanitation market and are now linking with local relevant sectors like agriculture to strengthen local supply chains with a focus on circularity. 

The program is unique in its emphasis and track record for leveraging grant funding at a minimum ratio of 1:10 to attract significant local non-grant-based and commercial financing to the severely underfunded sanitation sector. Partnerships are made to innovate and collaborate on novel financing mechanisms for cross-sectoral and locally driven impact. In FINISH we are using Euro 5 Grant to Effect Delivery of EURO 250 worth Toilet to Families!

Access to water and sanitation is both a human right and public good. Lack of sanitation has profound impacts on many quality-of-life indicators including health, finances, employment opportunities as well as less easily quantifiable social indicators like human dignity. Vulnerable populations, particularly women and children, are mostly affected by poor condition of toilets and lack of menstrual hygiene. Research has established negative impacts on school dropout rates particularly among adolescent girls related to poor sanitation and hygiene. FINISH addresses entire sanitation value chain with the ambition to achieve healthier & socio-economically empowered communities.

Sanitation is a Community issue against Popular belief of individual Preference, where long terms benefits can only be achieved unless practiced by sizeable population in given locality. Local institutions comprising Women, elderly, children( Schools) are being created to bring opinion, preferences , comfort in effective way resulting in adaptability and assurance toward long lasting impact.

In 2019, FINISH hit the milestone of constructing 1 million toilets, providing access to safe sanitation for well over 5 million people and leveraging €150 million in sanitation investments. These achievements have greatly contributed towards addressing issues of better toilets, less school dropouts and healthier villages and communities.