Alex Armand, researcher at NCID, will be conducting a Randomized Control Trial in Uttar Pradesh, India. The project, titled ‘Community toilet use in slums: willingness to pay and the role of informational and supply side constraints in Urban Uttar Pradesh', will be led by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in London. The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) will fund the project that will be jointly executed by Britta Augsburg, Senior Economist at IFS.

The study will take place in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh, India), where two complementary interventions will be implemented. On one side, the supply of information about hygiene practices and about the risks associated with bad sanitation. On the other side, the improvement of the quality and hygiene of community toilets. We seek funding for the second. These interventions aim at reducing open defecation by promoting the use of CTs.

This study aims at understanding the effectiveness of interventions in improving slum dweller’s willingness to pay for community toilet access. This research will not only contribute to the understanding of drivers of poor sanitation, but will also inform on the financial viability of the different interventions. It will provide policy guidance on the design of public-private partnerships in provision of CTs. In particular the degree to which public financial support will – or will not - be needed in improving sanitation situations in urban areas.

International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) is an international grant-making NGO that promotes evidence-informed development policies and programs. Its three main sources of funding are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UKaid, through the Department of International Development, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Picture by: Aleksandr Zykov.