===FINANCING SANITATION PAPER SERIES #4===
<font size="4" color="#696969">The relevance of a cheap motorbike for Sanitation: The bill of quantities in sanitation and the cheap motorcycle index</font>
[[Image:financing papers4.png|right|200px]]
In this paper, we deal with the cost of sanitation and compare it to an alternative asset investment option: a (low cost) motorcycle.
====Financial inclusion====
Financial inclusion encompasses offering a wide range of financial services to the hitherto financially excluded. These financial services range from financial literacy, micro credit, micro leasing, micro savings, micro insurance, money transfer and micro pensions. In the sanitation financing series, we are linking financial inclusion to sanitation. Financially excluded will have great difficulties in acquiring high cost sanitation assets, yet sanitation that is affordable may give rise to new means of financing and perhaps even financial inclusion. So let us take a closer look at costing.
====Complexity sanitation costing====
Sanitation costing is complex, because sanitation systems are complex. The complexity stems from amongst others:
# Unseen and unknown items (underground systems) quite often of a highly technical nature which makes them unknown to decision-makers.
# Different local conditions: The socio-cultural, economic-financial, technical-environmental (population density, soil type, relief, water table), institutional and legal dimensions have to be worked out in a local setting.
# Even in similar conditions, different technology options may emerge. In the end, the main interest of decisionmakers lies with investment and (hopefully) operation and maintenance costs of the systems.
====Sanitation decision support tool====
To assist in making technology choices, WASTE developed the [http://www.waste.nl/en/product/the-sanitation-decision-support-tool Sanitation Decision Support Tool].
The tool is organised as follows: <br>
# Division into functional groups (user-interface (“toilet”), collection, storage, emptying, transport, treatment, reuse/disposal).
#. Set of fact-sheets (i.e. septic tank, simplified sewer, pit, composting, urine reuse…) for each of the functional groups enabling the choice.
# Different flow parameters (grey water, black water, storm water, faeces, urine…).
