WaterCredit: A smart solution to a complex problem

One of the major barriers to safe water and sanitation is access to affordable financing. We created WaterCredit to address this barrier head-on. WaterCredit brings small, easily repayable loans to those who need access to affordable financing and expert resources to make household water and toilet solutions a reality.

Tool kits and information on how you can add these loans to your portfolio are below.

A proven, powerful solution 

After more than 15 years in action, WaterCredit is recognized as a proven, powerful solution. We have reached more than 63 million people through more than 13.9 million loans. Our partners have loaned $5.2 billion to families in the developing world for safe water and sanitation. 

Our solution is in high demand, sustainable, and reaching the right people. When given an opportunity to pay for water and sanitation improvements with loans, families are empowered to finance long-term solutions versus struggling financially and sacrificing their health day-to-day to find that next liter of water. 90% of borrowers are women – those most impacted by the water crisis – and loan repayment rates are 98% globally across the 11 countries where we operate. An encouraging aspect of this repayment rate is that every repaid loan can empower another family with safe water. 

Some direct benefits for financial institutions include: an ability to build and diversify their loan portfolios, expand and retain their client base by better serving client needs, greater customer and staff satisfaction, and an opportunity to contribute to social performance goals.

Here's how it works:

• Financial institutions express an interest in adding water and sanitation loan products to their portfolios.
  
• These financial institutions incorporate water and sanitation loans into their portfolio of offerings. We support them by providing resources such as product development materials and sales strategies, as well as connections to technical assistance.
• Borrowers use these small, affordable loans to put a tap or toilet in their homes and get access to local resources who can do the work.

Add this proven, powerful solution to your portfolio

For more information about how Water.org can help your institution develop and scale a water and sanitation loan product, please fill out this expression of interest form here and someone will follow-up with you shortly.

Additional tools and resources:

Water.org and MicroSave developed a series of toolkits to provide information and tools for financial institutions to develop microfinance products for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) investments. These toolkits present essential information, principles and practices for successful development of WASH financial products. They are designed to be applicable across a variety of markets, lending methodologies and business models.

You can download these today and get started.