Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and LIXIL Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to expand safe sanitation and hygiene access for 500,000 people in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The agreement establishes a framework for cooperation aimed at solving water and sanitation challenges in developing countries, uniting the agency’s policy expertise with the company’s product capabilities. Akihiko Tanaka, president of JICA, and Kinya Seto, director and CEO of LIXIL, signed the document to further advance initiatives in the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector.
The reality is that the sanitation environment taken for granted in Japan remains a life-threatening challenge for many people globally. Access to safe toilets and handwashing facilities is still severely lacking in many regions. Diarrheal diseases caused by unsanitary conditions claim the lives of more than 1,000 children every day, totaling approximately 440,000 annually. The increasing frequency and severity of floods and droughts driven by climate change, the spread of infectious diseases, and the rising number of refugees and internally displaced persons have made the resilience of water and sanitation services more key than ever.
JICA has supported the improvement of water and sanitation services through water supply, sewerage systems, hygiene education and human resource development, leveraging its cooperative relationships with national governments and on-the-ground networks. Meanwhile, LIXIL, through its social business SATO, provides accessible and affordable toilets and collaborates with various partners to build self-sustaining ecosystems managed locally. Through these efforts, LIXIL has successfully improved sanitation and hygiene for more than 100 million people across 59 countries and territories to date. The partnership will combine JICA’s expertise in policy and institutional cooperation with LIXIL’s capabilities in product development, market creation and business expansion. This collaboration will drive the creation of a “Sanitation Economy,” where sanitation services circulate self-sustainingly on the ground. Moving beyond mere assistance, the initiative strives to build a mechanism where local communities manufacture, sell, install, maintain and continuously use these products.
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Globally, approximately 3.4 billion people still lack access to safely managed sanitation, according to Seto. LIXIL has set a goal to improve sanitation and hygiene for the “next 100 million people” by the fiscal year ending March 2031. To address complex and profound global challenges, including sanitation access, refugee self-reliance and climate change, the parties must further accelerate the creation of a market-driven “Sanitation Economy” that grows autonomously on the ground, leveraging this new public-private partnership with JICA and national governments.
Field operations in Kenya and Malawi
The initial phase of the collaboration will focus on homes, schools and healthcare facilities, as well as refugee and host communities in Kenya and Malawi. The partnership will cultivate local human resources to handle the sales, installation and maintenance of sanitation facilities and establish supply chains, firmly embedding sanitation services as sustainable businesses. In Kenya, focusing on the Kakuma refugee camp and its host communities, the initiative will align with the Kenyan government’s Shirika Plan, which aims to enable refugees to participate in economic and social activities. By linking JICA’s water supply infrastructure development with LIXIL’s SATO business, the partnership will expand market-driven sanitation improvements to provide inclusive water and sanitation services for refugees and host communities alike.
In Malawi, the partnership will aim to develop resilient water and sanitation services that function even during prolonged inundation caused by natural disasters. Initiatives will include the introduction of SATO products in alignment with JICA’s ongoing projects. This approach mirrors historical public-private efforts where infrastructure alone proved insufficient without local maintenance capacity. The difference here lies in the specific focus on establishing local markets for toilet maintenance, a detail often overlooked in broader aid programs. By pairing JICA’s policy-formulation support through national government networks with LIXIL’s business solution and development capabilities, the partnership will drive broad societal implementation that would be difficult for any single entity to achieve alone.
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Using the achievements in Kenya and Malawi as a starting point, this “Sanitation Economy” model will be expanded to other regions. “Global challenges surrounding water and sanitation remain severe, and many people still lack access to safe sanitation and hygiene services,” said Tanaka. “It has also become clear that simply building facilities does not ensure that hygiene practices take root, highlighting the urgent need to create mechanisms that function sustainably on the ground. This partnership with LIXIL brings together JICA’s strengths in institutional development and government cooperation with LIXIL’s expertise in product development, market creation, and field-level business expansion.”
By doing so, the goal is to move beyond conventional aid and realize a “Sanitation Economy” where sanitation services can be sustained locally. By accumulating concrete achievements on the ground, starting with Kenya and Malawi, the partners will deliver sustainable changes to the lives of people in developing countries as a model for Japanese public-private partnership.
