Lifting close to 1 billion people out of poverty is a major challenge for Asian countries. Many of the 240 to 260 million poor living in cities and towns suffer from inadequate water, sanitation, and solid waste services and other forms of deprivation.

As the search for sustainable alternatives continues, many Asian countries have begun to experiment with private sector initiatives and public-private partnerships to reach out to the poor. At the same time, numerous NGOs and small-scale enterprises are trying to expand their service provision by linking up with large public or private utilities and thus creating public-private-community partnerships.

Beyond Boundaries: Extending Services to the Urban Poor is a collection of 19 case studies from 10 Asian countries where the private sector either independently or in partnership with the public sector, NGOs, and community-based groups has stepped in to provide services such as water supply, sanitation, and solid waste management.