Scaling Financing for Household Water and Sanitation Solutions
MLC Vanguard | Created by Water.org
Water.org pilots and accelerates innovative solutions to end the global water crisis. The key innovation driving Water.org's impact is WaterCredit: small, affordable loans made available to people living in poverty to help them finance locally-appropriate water and sanitation solutions.
24,250,070 Lives Impacted
People in need of water are already paying for water – in time and money. Families living at the base of the economic pyramid often pay 15 times more for water from private vendors than nearby middle-class households with water connections. These are the people we empower through WaterCredit by removing the financial barriers that stand between them and their ability to purchase their own household water and sanitation solutions.
Through our ambitious set of strategies, we project impact across multiple levels:
Level 1: Create Program Change. Support local partners that work directly with people living in poverty to facilitate access to loans and strengthen the supply chain of affordable, reliable water and sanitation products.
Level 2: Influence Business Change. Collaborate with organizations that play an influencing role to bring water and sanitation lending to those in poverty, such as working with microfinance associations to spread the model and with utilities to extend infrastructure into unserved areas. This also includes expanding impact investing through WaterEquity, a Water.org innovation that deploys investment capital into the water and sanitation sector.
Level 3: Support System Change. Create system-level change through partnerships with decision-makers in the water, sanitation, and finance sectors who are in a position to champion policies that support an enabling environment conducive to financing for water and sanitation for all.
The Innovation
With nearly three decades of experience, Water.org pilots and accelerates innovative solutions to end the global water crisis. Founded by Gary White and Matt Damon, Water.org is a sector leader in pioneering cost-efficient, market-driven approaches that remove financial barriers separating those living in poverty from access to vital water and sanitation services. The key innovation driving Water.org's impact is WaterCredit: small, affordable loans made available to people living in poverty to help them finance locally-appropriate water and sanitation solutions. Water.org’s support and training enable local partners to add water and sanitation loans to their existing lending portfolios and mobilize commercial capital for the loans — enhancing their ability to maintain the WaterCredit program long-term.
Not only do we know that water and sanitation loans make financial sense for people, but we also see enormous demand for them around the world. From the mother who walks miles to collect water each day to the government official struggling to stretch an insufficient water and sanitation budget, people are calling out for new ways to finance water and sanitation services. Gates Foundation research estimates a global $12 billion demand among under-served communities for microloans to finance water and sanitation improvements.
That need is concentrated in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where, collectively, 200 million people lack access to safe water and 280 million lack access to basic sanitation. We have transformed the lives of more than 29.5 million people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Our 146 partners have disbursed 6.5 million loans and mobilized $2.3 billion in capital – that’s money otherwise inaccessible to those in poverty to help end the water crisis. Every dollar Water.org invests in our partners leverages $67 from capital markets for water and sanitation loans, and that ratio continues to increase. The power of our work lies in the transformation of water and sanitation markets. By demonstrating that those living in poverty are bankable, we build inclusive markets and a compelling evidence base that creates a feasible and sustainable path to ending the water crisis.
Implemented in
Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Peru
Get in touch
Jennifer Paprotna
About Water.org
Water.org is a global nonprofit organization working to bring water and sanitation to the world. We want to make it safe, accessible, and cost-effective.
We help people get access to safe water and sanitation through affordable financing, such as small loans. We give our everything every day to empower people in need with these life-changing resources – giving women hope, children health and families a bright future.
