Catalytic Spotlight: WaterEquity

Problem: The Global Water Crisis is leaving 2 billion people behind. A tenth of the global population lacks access to water, a tenth practices open defecation, and a quarter lacks access to basic sanitation. Women and girls are disproportionately affected, as they spend roughly 200 million hours every day collecting water – time that is not spent studying or earning a living. Lack of access to water and sanitation amplifies other systemic problems such as disease, malnutrition, gender inequality, and poverty.

Solution: Finance projects directly addressing water scarcity, safe water, and sanitation through microfinance institutions that know their local markets best. Invest in funds that offer coaching and support on design, construction, and installation alongside financing to set borrowers up for success.

Impact Goal: Access to quality water and sanitation

Impact Approach: Microloans to low income communities

Geography: Emerging markets

Beneficiaries: Women at the base of the pyramid

About WaterEquity:

WaterEquity is a blended finance fund focused on emerging markets globally. The Fund addresses water and sanitation challenges by facilitating access to affordable financing for low-income households to build water and sanitation facilities, including toilets, septic tanks, bathrooms, water connections, wells, rainwater harvesting systems, and water treatment systems. 35-40 loans will be deployed to high-performing financial institutions for the exclusive purpose of expanding their water and sanitation microloan portfolios for a target population that lives on less than $6 a day. WaterEquity’s success in previous funds is evidenced by a 95-99% repayment rate across 370,000 loans over 14 years, as well as completion of 15 city-wide infrastructure projects. For example, In Madhya Pradesh, a region of India, the team financed a city-wide infrastructure project through two rural piped systems that are delivering clean water to 309,496 people who did not previously have access.

Catalyzing Impact Features

The Fund will target bottom of the pyramid populations: to date, 90% of Water.org-related loans have been disbursed to households living under $6 a day, and 60% have been disbursed in rural areas.
The Fund has implemented a robust impact measurement framework that will measure the quantity and quality of water and sanitation facilities financed, demographic data of beneficiaries, and the acceleration of products and services.
Their partnership with Water.org, a nonprofit that has provided safe water or sanitation to 36 million people, will deliver grant-funded technical assistance.

Impact to Date: