Microfinance for Water and Sanitation: An Example of Client-Focused Innovation

Did you know that more people in the world have a mobile phone than a toilet? Did you know that a third of humanity does not have access to adequate sanitation? Did you know that over a billion people do not have access to safe water? It’s hard to imagine how the world would look if fewer people had trouble securing their water supply. It would probably translate into a drastic global increase in productivity.

The prospect is tantalizing, the challenge colossal. Yet, satisfying results remain frustratingly elusive. Microfinance has often been seen has key to making a global difference by reaching people on an individual basis. Surprisingly, the microfinance world has long struggled to find an elegant solution to water supply challenges. Admittedly, numerous wells have been drilled but, more often than not, lack of funding for maintenance and skill training has entailed the short to medium term failure of the effort. Now, a new microfinance organization is taking a shot at a new model of delivering efficiently targeted funding to ensure long lasting results. Water.org has launched an initiative called WaterCredit that plans on tackling the problem of water access by focusing on the related bottleneck that is access to water.

What‘s interesting, and innovative with the WaterCredit model is that Water.org doesn’t simply handout one-shot grants but builds a portfolio of initiatives. These initiatives are funded provided they result in a simultaneous increase in infrastructure, local know-how and overall capacity. The model is having tremendous success and now boasts over 57,000 loans distributed by 24 WaterCredit partners in four countries in Asia and Africa. The WaterCredit model is actually lighting the path to a new idea of microfinance, instilled with ideas of eco-sustainability that may very well be the future.