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Group buying toilets

In the same way that microfinance has leveraged group lending to ensure accountability and repayment, NGOs or even for-profit organizations can engage communities in "group buys" of toilets. Communities would pool together resources to apply for a 'toilet loan' and collectively repay that loan. If the group defaulted or didn't maintain the toilet correctly, everyone would lose free access to the toilet (the NGO or company could take over and turn the toilet into a regular public latrine). A group of neighbors would band together and apply for toilet funding to build a toilet. They would receive detailed plans and assistance in building a hygienic latrine from a NGO or for-profit company and pay off their latrine over time (weekly or monthly payments). The latrine would only be available for use by that group of neighbors (although they collectively could decide to allow paying "non-members"). By using a group model for building / funding there is some peer pressure to keep the resource well-maintained and to repay the loan (since the toilet access will be revoked for all if they don't do so).


Benefits of this program include:
+ Unlimited access for community members means less incentive to use "flying toilets" or other unhygienic methods
+ Makes toilets affordable - while a single family might not be able to afford a good toilet, a community can
+ Sustainable funding model - community members pay for their toilets over time. Could be a for-profit model which would allow fast scaling.
+ Peer pressure for maintenance


Challenges:
- Need significant local team to distribute and monitor toilet "loans" and building
- Need to identify a good technology / building plans for the basic toilet itself

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