WaterCredit Initiative

What is it? A microcredit initiative of the NGO WaterPartners which facilitates loans to households and communities to finance water supply and sanitation services. WaterCredit is based on the assumption that the majority of those living without these basic services would be willing and able to pay for them if given the right financial tools. As of June 2008, WaterPartners had disbursed $1.2 million in support of WaterCredit programmes, benefiting more than 100,000 customers. Repayment rates have averaged above 90% in the past three years.

Who is responsible? WaterPartners International

Why is it shortlisted?

• WaterCredit puts sustainable financing programmes at the heart of the drive towards the Millennium Development Goals for Water and Sanitation. The loans, once repaid, can be recycled to new customers, and utilities have a financial incentive to extend their services.

• The success of WaterCredit has inspired other financial institutions to enter the water and microfinance space. More than $1.6 million in commercial financing has been raised to target water and sanitation services for the poor. This is a first in a sector that for too long has depended on charity and subsidy models.

• WaterCredit is the NGO community's most scalable and sustainable solution to the lack of water and wastewater services for the world's poor.