Sithan Virath

WaterSHED

WaterSHED uses a systems-approach to build the rural market for water, sanitation, and hygiene products and services across Southeast Asia. Based in Cambodia, the organization conducts in-depth research to identify strategic opportunities and gaps in the wider system, and then works to strengthen the capacity and relationships between key actors to create more dynamic and resilient markets. By engaging key actors in the system, including small businesses, customers, and local government, WaterSHED facilitates the adoption of toilets, water filters, and handwashing stations – building a market that functions independent of traditional aid. To date, WaterSHED's Hands-Off marketing approach has successfully enabled small businesses to sell more than 180,000 toilets, generating more than USD $9 million in revenue for rural businesses, and helping accelerate sanitation coverage from a stagnant 25% to nearly 60% in six years. WaterSHED has been featured in Forbes, Reuters, and Huffington Post, and is a twice winner of USAID's Development Innovation Ventures competition, a winner of Canada Grand Challenges Stars in Global Public Health, and 1st prize winner of the Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge.