Library
Browse our collection of reports, briefings, and other research that makes up our library of WaterCredit reference. You can submit original papers or your own collections to the library--just click the "contribute" button and begin your upload.
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WaterCredit Market Assessment Executive Summaries of North, Eastern, Central and Southern India
Water.org’s initial work with MFIs from 2008-2011 has been an important success. MFIs found significant demand for loans for individual water connections, harvesting tanks, toilets, latrines, and similar other products. Utilization rates for water and sanitation access and loan repayment rates were both very high. As a result of this success, Water.org is in the [...]
Of interest rates, margin caps & poverty lending: How the RBI policy will affect access to microcredit by low income clients
The Indian microfinance crisis that triggered by the controversial Andhra Pradesh’s microfinance law has had a severe impact on Indian MFIs’ routine operations. The crisis has brought down the portfolios of Indian MFIs by as much as 50% from their peak in October 2010. In the context of the draft Microfinance Bill that seeks to [...]
Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion
Of late, financial inclusion has taken a front seat in various development dialogues, policies and approaches across the globe. “Full financial inclusion” is a state in which all people who can use them have access to a suite of quality financial services, provided at affordable prices, in a convenient manner, and with dignity for the [...]
The State of Microfinance Investment 2011
MicroRate’s sixth annual global microfinance investment survey brings interesting findings to the microfinance community. This survey summarizes the dramatic growth of microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) during the past six years, and finds that the microfinance sector has grown 12% during 2010 as compared to 22% during 2009. The global financial crisis that began in 2008 [...]
Getting Africa on Track to Meet the MDGs on Water and Sanitation
The need and importance for providing access to safe to water and sanitation has been recognized well in Millennium Development Goal (MDG) No. 7. Water and Sanitation are also closely linked with the achievement of many other MDGs, as they affect individuals and community life both directly and indirectly. This report reveals that in sub-Saharan [...]
WaterCredit Executive Summary
(Water.org 2011) The WaterCredit Executive Summary provides an overview of Water.org’s current WaterCredit initiatives to increase access to credit and capital for safe water and sanitation.
Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco
(IRES 2011) We study the demand for household water connections in urban Morocco, and the effect of such connections on household welfare. In the northern city of Tangiers, among homeowners without a private connection to the city’s water grid, a random subset was offered a simplified procedure to purchase a household connection on credit (at [...]
Women and Water: Issues of Gender, Caste, Class and Institutions
(Economic and Political Weekly 2011) The papers in this issue of the Review of Women’s Studies examine the relationship of women to water, setting it in the institutional environment of gender relations and state policy. Despite the policy initiatives and attendant programmes to expand access to water users, given our hierarchical society, the conversion of drinking water into a [...]
Meeting the Infrastructure Needs of the Informal Sector through Microfinance in Urban India
Action Research (1999) -There are a growing number of emerging microfinance institutions in urban India that are facilitating poor communities to access to improved shelter and services through the provision of small scale credit. These include credit to pay for water connections…
Innovations in Financing Urban Water & Sanitation
IRC (2007). The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) identified water and sanitation services as key factors in lifting people out of poverty. However, the influential Camdessus Report estimated that financial flows to the sector must at least double to achieve the MDG water and sanitation targets. Financing is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for achieving adequate water and sanitation services and the resulting benefits on health, education and economic activity.
Creating Access to Credit for Water and Sanitation: Women’s Self-Help Groups in India
(Water.org 2008)This study looks at the development of a water and sanitation loan fund deployed through a network of women’s self-help groups in Southern India. The success of the loan fund reduced barriers to credit from formal lending institutions and increased investment in water and sanitation facilities in urban and rural areas. The study utilizes pre- and post-program data to construct a case study of key program impacts. Results from this study indicate that micro-finance principles can be successfully applied to the water and sanitation sector. The objectives of this case study are to summarize what is known about this loan program and explore the possibilities and limitations of this new financing model for the water and sanitation sector. We recommend further research on gender and economic impacts.
Improving Access to Water Supply and Sanitation in Urban India: Microfinance for Water and Sanitation Infrastructure
(Standford/IWA 2008) This article summarises initial findings of a study to explore the potential of providing microfinancing for low-income households wishing to invest in improved water supply and sanitation services. Through in-depth interviews with more than 800 households in the city of Hyderabad in India, we conclude that, even if provided with market (not concessional) rates of financing, a substantial proportion of poor households would invest in water and sewer network connections.
Bangladesh Impact Evaluation – 2008, BUET
In 2008 the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) conducted a 3rd Party Evaluation of Water.org’s WaterCredit and grant programs in Bangladesh. The study looked at the the following:
• Function of the water and sanitation facilities and user use;
• User statisfaction among the project beneficiaries;
• Post-project health and socio-economic impacts in project areas.
WaterCredit Market Assessments in Uganda and Kenya
Water.org contracted MicroSave, a boutique microfinance advisory firm, to conduct market assessments in Kenya and Uganda in order to determine the demand and potential for establishing WaterCredit among microfinance institutions (MFIs) in partnership with Water and Sanitation (WSH) organizations.
Microfinance for Water, Sanitation, Hygiene
IRC (2007) – Microfinance is topical because it can make an important contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Used properly, it can help toreduce income poverty, lessen the vulnerability of the poorestand empower women. For the water & sanitation sector, it canhelp the poor to have access to water services.