Microfinance: local entrepreneurs in Bangladesh provide affordable sanitation

With access to microcredit, local small entrepreneurs can now produce and market a range of affordable sanitation options for households. Many households in Bangladesh are under pressure to move from very low-cost to very high-cost sanitation technology options with a significant debt burden.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission, a national NGO in Bangladesh, is piloting a microfinance scheme for local private manufacturers in Jamalpur Sadar Upazilla, a sub district of Dhaka division. The NGO signed a Memorandum of Understanding in July 2009 with the Association for Social Advancement (ASA), a leading microfinance institute.

The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) facilitated this process of linking local private manufacturers with micro-finance agencies to bring finance and technology together to make available a range of affordable sanitation options for households.

Related news:

• Microfinance: improving access to water supply and sanitation in urban India, Source Weekly, 08 Dec 2008
• Microfinance: unique partnership aims to spur innovation in India’s sanitation sector, Source Weekly, 08 Dec 2008

Related publication: Mehta, M. (2008). Assessing microfinance for water and sanitation : exploring opportunities for sustainable scaling up. Seattle, WA, USA, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Download full report.

Related web sites:

• Association for Social Advancement
• WaterCredit
• IRC – Financing and Cost Recovery

Contact: Rokeya Ahmed, WSP South Asia, wspsa@worldbank.org

Source: WSP Access, Oct 2009

Keywords

• South Asia
• Financing
• Sanitation