100 Million Initiative Hosts Zambia and Sector Partners at Oxford

This month, the 100 Million Initiative hosted partners including the government of the Republic of Zambia to discuss how proven water financing models can help attract public funding commitments and improve water security for vulnerable communities.

The discussions focused on the role of results-based funding in supporting sustainable rural water services. Through collaboration with Uptime Global, these contracts are already helping deliver reliable drinking water services for 5 million people across 16 countries, with payments linked to verified performance data to strengthen accountability and learning.

During the event, Dr Gabriel Pollen, Permanent Secretary at the Government of Zambia's Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, shared insights into how the SafeManzi model in Zambia could evolve into a national programme. Current scale-up activities in Central Province are supporting a wider ambition to establish a results-based funding model for water services across all public facilities by 2030.

The conversations reflected broader discussions taking place during the Skoll World Forum and World Bank Spring Meetings, where governments, development partners and researchers explored pathways to scaling sustainable water financing. Research led by the University of Oxford in Bangladesh and Zambia is contributing evidence that rural water services can increasingly transition from philanthropic and concessionary finance towards long-term public funding models.