Our Dual Approach
Our ultimate goal is to create a thriving water and sanitation economy that enables innovation, supports sustainability and promotes inclusion.
By achieving this, we will significantly contribute to the targets outlined in SDG 6, which are essential for progress across various other Sustainable Development Goals as well as progress towards a green transition. Ensuring access to clean water and sanitation drives poverty reduction (SDG 1), enhances overall health and well-being (SDG 3), promotes gender equality (SDG 5), supports economic growth (SDG 8), and strengthens climate resilience within communities (SDG 13).
Our vision is realised through our unique dual approach which combines our water and sanitation expertise with market development and finance mobilisation. Both components are equally important to transform the sector and bridge the service and finance gaps. This approach considers aggravating factors such as rapid population growth, migration, urbanisation, and climate change, among others.
Governments and water and sanitation enterprises are confronted with capacity and funding constraints in providing drinking water and sanitation services. We address these challenges through a dual approach:
Market Development
Our market development strategy supports Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through smart grant instruments, technical assistance and access to networks. This approach fosters sustainable, scalable, and investment ready water and sanitation enterprises, enabling them to serve communities reliably and efficiently.
Our activities focus on fostering a resilient water and sanitation sector by supporting SMEs and strengthening the ecosystem. They provide solutions for gaps in the market affecting millions of people primarily in rural and peri-urban areas.
SMEs play a crucial role in expanding and maintaining water and sanitation services to achieve sustainable access and long-term impact. These SMEs complement public service efforts by offering solutions adapted to local needs. A thriving water and sanitation market boosts income generation, well-being, community resilience, and economic growth.
Impact Finance
Recognising the critical link between the finance gap and the persistence of the service gap, we deploy de-risking instruments to unlock much-needed private capital for financing the access and delivery of water and sanitation services.
There is a growing recognition of the important role of private finance to accelerate access to water and sanitation solutions that are inclusive, affordable, and sustainable. In recent years, we have witnessed more interest from asset managers, financial institutions, and financial intermediaries in the water and sanitation ecosystem.
However, many of these stakeholders have insufficient understanding of the water and sanitation market and require additional support to start financing the sector. We offer a suite of tailored instruments to facilitate our partners entry into finance the water and sanitation ecosystem.