Over the past 6 months, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and UK Department for International Development (DFID) have funded Practical Action to support the municipality of Faridpur in Bangladesh to undertake a detailed situational analysis of the state of faecal sludge management in the town and develop a business proposal to improve the system on a large scale be adopting service level agreements with private sector service providers. We are thrilled that the Gates Foundation has approved the proposal and the USD 1.6 million, 3-year project is expected to commence in November 2014.