Impact assessment of FINISH project in India

Founded in 2009 as Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health (FINISH), the organization emerged as a pioneering endeavor led by an Indo-Dutch consortium, including key players like TATA-AIG, SNS-REAAL, WASTE, and UNU-Merit. FINISH has been building a sustainable sanitation ecosystem using the ‘diamond approach’ which involves working directly with 4 cornerstones of the sanitation ecosystem – local communities, financing institutions, private businesses, and local governments. While the vanilla approach worked well in many locations, the microfinance landscape in Rajasthan, particularly in Dungarpur, posed challenges. Dispersed population and hilly terrain made traditional microfinance approaches impractical. Private businesses also saw sanitation as a dispersed, low-volume market. FINISH successfully adapted its diamond model to fit the local needs of Dungarpur and Uttar Pradesh.

The primary objective of this impact assessment was to evaluate whether the positive impacts realized during the program’s active phase had endured over the years. It sought to meticulously examine select locations in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, where the program was being implemented during the period of 2009-2015. FINISH aimed to gain valuable insights into the long-term effectiveness of the program’s interventions and their sustained impact on local communities. The findings of this assessment not only informed stakeholders about the lasting effects of the FINISH program but also provided valuable lessons for designing future sanitation initiatives.

For this assessment, Samavit adopted the Reality Check Approach (RCA) – an immersive research method that blends elements from traditional listening studies and beneficiary assessments. Our approach involved active participation and observation within the community, offering a deeper understanding of their daily lives, rather than quantitative numbers only. Key features of this approach included participant-centric conversations, experiential engagement by being part of the local community’s daily lives, comprehensive household-centered interactions, and inclusion of diverse perspectives (persons with disability, women, elders, etc. Our teams utilized Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools such as transect walks, resource mapping, social mapping, timeline charts, and seasonality charts to interact with local communities and collect data. To complement this approach, our team also conducted desk-based research to evaluate progress on key WASH indicators in study areas following the termination of the intervention.

Samavit’s team prepared a comprehensive long-term impact assessment report including findings on sanitation service levels, hygiene service levels, access to credit for WASH, public WASH infrastructure, fecal sludge management, gender equity and social inclusion, environmental sustainability, WASH market ecosystem, capacities of local governments, etc.