The PepsiCo Foundation’s story is a powerful example of the profound impact a strategic investment in WaterCredit can have.  PepsiCo Foundation and Water.org have been working together to bring more people in India access to clean water and sanitary improvements.  Original projections anticipated that 120,000 lives would be improved with water and 5,560 lives would be improved with sanitation through this program.  Today, Water.org is confident that this program will improve the lives of more than 160,000 people with water and 90,000 people with sanitation.  This represents a 33% increase in water beneficiaries and a nearly 14-fold increase in sanitation beneficiaries.

At the heart of the PepsiCo Foundation program is the development and expansion of the WaterCredit Initiative, which allows for the acceleration of access by the poor to safe water and improved sanitation. WaterCredit microfinance models are unique in that they increase access to commercial capital for the poor and provide new and efficient sources of funding for safe water and sanitation facilities. Having been previously excluded from the formal financial sector, the poor now have access to WaterCredit, which also links them to new financial opportunities that were previously unavailable.

The success of this program is multi-faceted. Through the PepsiCo Foundation grant, Water.org is providing smart subsidies and credit enhancements for WaterCredit projects that help attract additional social and commercial capital, as well as build the capacity of its partner organizations. When Water.org invests in smart subsidies and credit enhancements for its credit-based organizations, they are able to borrow in bulk directly from commercial banks and then re-lend that capital in smaller, more affordable amounts to borrowers. The loans are generally distributed through joint-liability groups and women’s self-help groups.