GSEP Technical Capacity Support (TCS) program provides technical assistance and expertise to Micro and Small to Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the sanitation sector. TCS enables them to prepare and present valid and (where necessary) bankable project proposals, concept papers and project plans to potential financiers.

Sanitation MSMEs in sub-Saharan Africa operate as informal entities invisible to the governance and commercial organizations that serve the sanitation value chain. This lack of recognition disenfranchises sanitation MSMEs from access to commercial financing (loans), funding, and capacity-building opportunities, despite the crucial role they play in the fast-tracking of SDG 6.2 (Universal access to sanitation).
There have been initiatives to correct the situation, a good example being an initiative in 2009 launched by no less than the World Bank in partnership with financial institutions in Kenya. Unfortunately, funding beneficiaries are mostly initiatives towards access to clean water that leave sanitation MSMEs on the backburner.
The contribution of sanitation MSMEs to fecal sludge management (FSM) is phenomenal but largely undocumented. A desktop review conducted by GSEP revealed manual emptiers handle an estimated 14,000 tons of fecal sludge generated in urban centers in Africa daily.
At GSEP, we belief that linking sanitation MSMEs with financing and technical assistance opportunities would significantly boost the realization of SDG 6.2.