{"id":18,"date":"2017-04-24T04:00:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/2020\/12\/23\/why-cookie-cutter-models-dont-work-in-development\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T04:16:21","slug":"why-cookie-cutter-models-dont-work-in-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/why-cookie-cutter-models-dont-work-in-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Why cookie cutter models don\u2019t work in development"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><p>Development problems are hard problems. Not only are targets ambitious&ndash;say, raise entire populations out of poverty&ndash;solutions also play out over decades. Since feedback loops are prolonged, it&rsquo;s hard to know whether your solutions are working or not.<\/p><p>Which is why there&rsquo;s a strong tendency to see what has worked in other markets and geographies and try to reapply it. Unfortunately, copy-paste does not work in development.<\/p><h3>Rural Sanitation in Bihar<\/h3><p>Back in 2012, my colleagues and I at Monitor Inclusive Markets (now FSG India) set out to develop a market-based solution to the rural sanitation problem in Bihar.<\/p><div id=\"idron-223637012\" class=\"idron-article-in-content idron-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/idranswers.idronline.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"What is IDR Answers Page Banner\"><img src=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1.png\" alt=\"What is IDR Answers Page Banner\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1.png 1250w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-300x60.png 300w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-1024x205.png 1024w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-150x30.png 150w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-768x154.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" width=\"1250\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p>What was the problem? <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in\/files\/file\/Swachhta_%20Status_Report2016.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Four out of five households in rural Bihar did not have toilets<\/a><\/strong> and were defecating in the open.&nbsp;A key element of our analysis was to look at global analogues. After all, why reinvent the wheel?<\/p><p>This is what has worked in sanitation in other markets:<\/p><ul>\n<li><strong>Behaviour change communication, focused on the health benefits of using toilets<\/strong>, has had a huge impact in reducing open defecation in Bangladesh.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Extremely low-cost, makeshift toilets<\/strong> (under Rs 3,000) have played a key part in driving toilet coverage in low-income countries.<\/li>\n<li><strong>One-stop shops<\/strong>, where customers can purchase a complete toilet, have shown great results in markets like Cambodia. As an expert said in one of our workshops, &ldquo;One-stop shops are the holy grail. If that&rsquo;s not what we&rsquo;re going to do, what&rsquo;s the point?&rdquo;<\/li>\n<\/ul><p>\n<div id=\"attachment_994\" style=\"width: 912px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.charlotteandersonphotography.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-994\" class=\"wp-image-994\" src=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shelter0363web.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"902\" height=\"601\" data-id=\"994\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-994\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Courtesy: Charlotte Anderson Photography<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><p>Except that these don&rsquo;t work. Not in Bihar. &nbsp;Based on our research and interviews with more than a thousand households, we learned that:<\/p><p><strong>1. &nbsp; Several years of health-focused behaviour change communication hadn&rsquo;t&nbsp;worked in Bihar.<\/strong><\/p><ul>\n<li>Baseline demand for toilets already exists. A lot of people want toilets. And not for health reasons. People&nbsp;desire safety, convenience and privacy (in that order), given the dense settlements in Bihar.<\/li>\n<li>So lack of demand is not the bottleneck. Ability to pay is the constraint. Along with lack of information on good quality toilets.<\/li>\n<\/ul><p><strong>2. &nbsp;Households in Bihar know what expensive toilets look like. And aspire for them.<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"idron-1320087782\" class=\"idron-content idron-entity-placement\"><a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"donate banner\"><img src=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1.jpg\" alt=\"donate banner\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-300x60.jpg 300w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-1024x205.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-150x30.jpg 150w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-768x154.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" width=\"1250\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div><ul>\n<li>Unlike many other developing markets, supply chains in India are very well-developed. Most basic products are available in rural areas.<\/li>\n<li>The toilet subsidy in India (more than Rs 10,000 in recent times) has also pushed the minimum acceptable standard higher. Even in areas where the subsidy is hard to access.<\/li>\n<\/ul><p><strong>3. &nbsp;One-stop shops are not valued either.<\/strong><br>\nThe key benefits of a one-stop shop are (a) easy access to products and (b) convenience. But are they needed in Bihar?<\/p><ul>\n<li>Most products are already available within a 2-5km radius.<\/li>\n<li>Rural customers don&rsquo;t value convenience. Lack of time is not really a constraint for most households.<\/li>\n<\/ul><p><strong>Just because something has worked in other markets doesn&rsquo;t mean it will work here.<\/strong> &nbsp;And this was not our experience alone.<\/p><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vodafone.com\/content\/index\/what\/m-pesa.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">M-Pesa<\/a> is an incredible success story in Kenya. Given low bank penetration and high mobile coverage in that market, using phones for money transfer made financial transactions simple. The result: M-Pesa grew at a blistering pace, reaching volumes equal to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/danielrunde\/2015\/08\/12\/m-pesa-and-the-rise-of-the-global-mobile-money-market\/#5aecf0645aec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">43 percent of Kenya&rsquo;s GDP within six years.<\/a><\/p><p>However, when Vodacom tried to do the same thing in Tanzania, it <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.unibulmerchantservices.com\/from-0-to-90-in-5-years-how-tanzania-does-mobile-payments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">took much longer to scale<\/a> and required several changes to the business model. This, despite bank penetration in Tanzania being even lower than Kenya. &nbsp;And, multiple attempts to break into the South African market <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/sundaytimes\/businesstimes\/2016\/06\/05\/Why-M-Pesa-will-never-work-in-South-Africa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">haven&rsquo;t succeeded.<\/a><\/p><p><strong>This is not just about national borders<\/strong>. A vast country like India is a collection of several <em>mini-Indias<\/em>. All with distinct contexts. &nbsp;Milk cooperatives have been wildly successful in improving farmer incomes in Gujarat. But attempts to replicate the same model in other parts of the country <a href=\"http:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/industry\/cons-products\/food\/neither-farmers-nor-consumers-happy-with-loss-making-karnataka-cooperative-milk-producers-federation\/articleshow\/50606629.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">haven&rsquo;t really worked.<\/a><\/p><p>And sanitation is no different.<\/p><h3>Sanitation in Bihar vs. Rajasthan<\/h3><p>After Bihar, when we looked at Rajasthan for a later project, our findings were starkly different. Unlike Bihar, many parts of Rajasthan are sparsely populated. So, people often don&rsquo;t find open defecation inconvenient at all.&nbsp;Bihar and Rajasthan may be part of the same acronym&ndash;BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh)&ndash;but the contexts are very different.<\/p><blockquote><p>A vast country like India is a collection of several <em>mini-Indias<\/em>. All with distinct contexts.<\/p><\/blockquote><p>And solutions are unlikely to be the same. Supply side interventions such as making toilet construction easy, wouldn&rsquo;t be enough to raise toilet coverage in Rajasthan. Demand generation efforts focused on the key need of the local population (which isn&rsquo;t convenience, but may not be health either) will likely play an important role.<\/p><h3>Key takeaways<\/h3><p>1. Don&rsquo;t assume that if something has worked in one place, it will work elsewhere. <a href=\"http:\/\/jitha.me\/map-not-territory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The map is not the territory<\/a>; local context is more important than we think.<\/p><p>2. We need to start from first principles: What do customers need? What do they aspire for? And how can we deliver that?<\/p><h3>Further reading<\/h3><p>If you would like to learn more about the Bihar Rural Sanitation project, you can find the project output and a summary white paper <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inclusive-markets.org\/sanitation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here.<\/a>&nbsp;If you would like a shorter, snappier version, please read Jithamithra&rsquo;s article <a href=\"http:\/\/jitha.me\/toilets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here.<\/a><\/p><p><em>Disclaimer: Views presented here are of the authors alone and do not represent the views of FSG\/Monitor Inclusive Markets.<\/em><\/p><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"idron-3925708574\" class=\"idron-troublemakers-placement idron-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"donate banner\"><img src=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1.jpg\" alt=\"donate banner\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-300x60.jpg 300w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-1024x205.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-150x30.jpg 150w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-768x154.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" width=\"1250\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Development problems are hard problems. Not only are targets ambitious&ndash;say, raise entire populations out of poverty&ndash;solutions also play out over decades. Since feedback loops are prolonged, it&rsquo;s hard to know&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":20,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,6],"tags":[3703],"series":[],"meta-filter":[],"schema-filter":[743],"no-display":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecosystem-development","category-water-sanitation","tag-sanitation","contributor-jithamithra-thathachari","contributor-rishi-agarwal","states-bihar","schema-filter-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why cookie cutter models don\u2019t work in development | IDR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The national spotlight on sanitation has resulted in many of us seeking quick fixes to address a systemic problem. 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