Session 2.1.2 -

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Session 2.1.2 -Accelerating WASH (Water
Sanitation and Hygiene) Sector Reform and
Improving Governance

• Title Micro-finance in expediting access to
  water, sanitation and hygiene improvement for the
  poor
• Presented by
• Dr. Sadeque
• Institute of Microfinance (InM), Bangladesh

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Up scaling micro-finance for WASH

• Up scaling micro-finance and enhancing its
  poverty impact will be important factors in
  realizing the MDG goals towards accelerated
  poverty reduction
• Access to this service has justifiably emerged as
  the most critical of issues at the interface of
  micro credit and WASH. But how compelling have
  been the poverty arguments for WASH? Where do
  policy windows come into play and how effectively
  have these been grasped?

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WASH disease- Global Scenario

• Every year around 2.2 million children die from
  diarrhoeal related diseases. The majority of
  these diseases are transmitted as a result of
  poor quality drinking water, inappropriate
  hygiene practices or inadequate sanitary
  facilities. This rate is equivalent to one child
  dying every 15 seconds WHO UNICEF Global Water
  Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report
  (Geneva New York WHO/UNICEF, 2000) p. 2

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Strategic challenge for the micro-finance sector
to combine WASH

• One of the strategic challenges is to combine
  micro-credit with other products such as water,
  sanitation and hygiene so as to magnify the
  eventual impact on poverty reduction.

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Exploring the reasons why expediting access to
WASH improvement in microfinance

• Better service-delivery particularly in the areas
  of health and education.
• Reduction of leakage in targeted programmes
• Reduction of income erosion threats to the poor
  due to improper application of services as for
  example if hygiene issues are not addressed
  properly the micro credit will not work up to
  expectation due to big drainage of income for
  health care.

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Way forward

• Women borrowers have so far been the major actors
  in micro-credit and in addressing the above
  challenges, it is important that their needs and
  priorities remain critical drivers of the growth
  of the sector.

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Cont..

• All these can save 80 million USD spend per year
  for water and sanitation borne diseases in
  Bangladesh for which women and children are the
  worst sufferers.
• World Water Forum 2009 could raise the voice to
  link micro credit for expediting access to water
  , sanitation and hygiene in Asia-Pacific and
  other countries where poverty is pervasive .

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Conclusion

• So, the issue of involving micro finance with
  WASH is of pivotal importance and thus this
  particular perspective in the World Water Forum
  2009 will focus how to involve development
  partners/government/non-government agencies in
  this integrated promotional approach through
  microfinance towards expediting access to water,
  sanitation and hygiene improvement which has
  environmental, social and economic impact on the
  poor.

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