Water.org’s WaterCredit product aims to achieve universal access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation by increasing access to finance for households making investments in water and sanitation improvements. This effort has resulted in partnerships with 113 financial institutions worldwide and 4.6 million water and sanitation (WSS) loans disbursed for a total value of USD 1.7 billion.

Water.org asked IPC to conduct a mixed-methods evaluation of the sustainability and profitability of water and sanitation (WSS) lending as perceived by its partner financial institutions. Specifically, the study aimed to understand which former partners still have sustainable WaterCredit portfolios, which current partners are on track to have sustainable portfolios by the end of their Water.org partnerships, and the key factors that influence sustainability of a WaterCredit portfolio over time. Finally, Water.org asked IPC’s experts for insights and recommendations for strengthening Water.org’s ongoing work.

IPC’s experts implemented the following tasks:

• reviewing and analysing existing Water.org data on partner sustainability and performance
• conducting a survey of current and former partners, to better understand perceptions and key influencing factors for sustainability and profitability of WSS lending
• interviewing management staff from current and former partners to identify best practices and challenges to WSS sustainability in a range of markets
• synthesising findings in an accessible, actionable evaluation report