{"id":17505,"date":"2021-02-09T09:57:45","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T09:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fundacionmicrofinanzasbbva.org\/revistaprogreso\/?p=17505"},"modified":"2021-02-24T16:14:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T16:14:08","slug":"jessica-jacobson-senior-manager-financial-institutions-water-org-yanina-rumiche-senior-program-manager-latin-america-water-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fundacionmicrofinanzasbbva.org\/revistaprogreso\/en\/jessica-jacobson-senior-manager-financial-institutions-water-org-yanina-rumiche-senior-program-manager-latin-america-water-org\/","title":{"rendered":"Microfinance adapted to water and sanitation access"},"content":{"rendered":"
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According to the water and sanitation program run jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, 50 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean (9% of the population) still lack access to a potable drinking-water supply, while 125 million (23%) have no access to an adequate basic sanitation system.\u00a0Water.org<\/a><\/u>\u00a0was set up to address this need, to encourage more financial institutions to get involved in water and sanitation-related lending, highlighting not only the enormous social impact this kind of financial product has among borrowers, but also the financial returns such loans have achieved in Latin America, partly as a result of their high repayment rates.<\/p>\n

Worldwide, we have established partnerships with over 175 financial institutions to date. These partner financial institutions have disbursed 6.8 million loans for water and sanitation, to over 31 million people across 13 different countries. Of these, 2.9 million clients are in Latin America, accounting for 798,285 loans disbursed.<\/p>\n

The partnership between Water.org and Financiera Confianza began in 2017. The objective was to help the population served by BBVA Microfinance Foundation\u2019s entity in Peru who live in the \u00a0regions with the greatest difficulty accessing water and sanitation. The partnership has made it possible to develop high-quality products focusing on the financial demands of households with these basic needs. It has designed marketing strategies that showcase the advantages of these financial products both to Financiera Confianza\u2019s internal audiences (loan officers) and to the clients of these products.\u00a0 This concerted effort has helped 86,622 people to finance water and sanitation systems through 33,796 loans.\u00a0 The number of people benefiting from improved water and sanitation from access to this financing continues to grow every month.<\/p>\n

We know that women and girls are disproportionately affected by water shortages and the lack of adequate sanitation systems. It is customarily women who responsible for bringing water into the home. When family members become ill from drinking contaminated water, it is normally women who have to stop their other activities to provide care. This responsibility entails a high opportunity cost for women in jobs, education, leisure and hours of sleep. Lastly, the lack of access to clean, private toilets leaves women at greater risk of infections and illnesses, as well as increasing the possibilities of suffering sexual violence.<\/p>\n

During our ten years\u2019 experience, we have learned many lessons that we hope to carry on sharing through our partnership with BBVA Microfinance Foundation. Some of these learnings are briefly summarized below:<\/p>\n