Query: Funding Sources for Water and Sanitation Projects Experiences; Referrals

Transcription

1 Environment Water Community Solution Exchange for the Water Community Consolidated Reply Query: Funding Sources for Water and Sanitation Projects Experiences; Referrals Compiled by Nitya Jacob, Resource Person and Sunetra Lala, Research Associate Issue Date: 24 October 2008 From S. Damodaran, WaterPartners International India Liaison Office, Tiruchirappalli Posted 21 August 2008 I am the Country Director of WaterPartners International, India Office. I have come across many NGOs working on or specialising in water and sanitation works with considerable experience, but are unable to get funding support for their projects. Some of them have done excellent work in terms of eco-san toilets, rainwater harvesting and community-led total sanitation projects. These projects are excellent and could be replicated in other parts of India. This year is the International Year of Sanitation, and we have heard about different funds being allocated for water and sanitation works, but when NGOs really need money for their project execution, they cannot find donor organizations to lend support for their projects. The NGOs working for water and sanitation, except for a few leading organizations, have small operations and with little funds. Although they are not able to locate a potential supporter for their projects, they are dedicated to the sector, working very hard to take a lead in the sector. The NGOs new to the water and sanitation sector, and interested in taking up projects, also encounter financial constraints. We are at the end of second quarter of the International Year of Sanitation, yet no concrete steps have been taken with regard to the availability of funds for sanitation. Therefore, I request members of the Water Community to share information on: Available funding sources for water and sanitation projects (especially those focused on India) Experiences related to WATSAN NGOs accessing funding, including any obstacles encountered We plan to provide this information to the interested NGOs in need of funding support to carry out their water and sanitation interventions locally in their region. Thank you in advance for contributing to this discussion, and we hope our efforts will help to make the International Year of Sanitation more meaningful and useful for the millions of people who are lacking safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. Responses were received, with thanks, from

2 1. Sajitha Joshi, Urban Management Centre, Ahmedabad 2. Sujit G. Kumar, Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell (CSPC), Ahmedabad 3. Arun Sharma, Rural Innovations Network, Chennai 4. Vandana Tripathi, Consultant, Lucknow 5. Aparna Vishwanatham, EDA CapitalConnect Ltd., Gurgaon 6. S. Damodaran, WaterPartners International, Trichy* 7. Swati Sharma, Saviours, Meerut 8. Kalyan Paul, Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation, Ranikhet 9. Gyanendra Mishra, UDAAN Society, Aligarh *Offline Contribution Further contributions are welcome! Summary of Responses Comparative Experiences Related Resources Responses in Full Summary of Responses In India, an estimated 40% per cent of rural households have toilets, against over 80 per cent of urban households, indicating a vast rural-urban gap in sanitation. The Government of India s Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) has executed the most work on sanitation through panchayats at different levels. The query sought inputs from members on sources of funding for NGOs working on sanitation interventions. Responding to the questions raised, members noted there are few options to choose from and the amounts are quite small. Respondents pointed out while the civil society sector has been an active part of the process especially in developing information material, training and advocacy, it has played a small part in the actual execution of the projects. This is largely because NGOs have found it hard to get funding for project implementation in sanitation. NGOs working in this field will have to search for innovative sources of funding, even though this is the International Year of Sanitation. The Japan Water Forum provides up to US$ 1,000 per project or activity once a year. The Dena Bank, a nationalised bank in India, runs the Dena Swachchh Gram Yojana, a scheme for providing financial assistance for constructing toilets in rural areas. Private companies are also developing packages for similar activities. Other options listed by members included programmes run by the Rural Innovations Network and the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. Some of these financing options are in the form of loans rather than grants, and include mentoring in technology, business development and access to networks. CapitalConnect is another platform that brings together providers and seekers of capital in the development sector/social enterprise space. Participants on the platform include social enterprises, lenders and social entrepreneurs. In addition, some government programmes, such as the Yamuna Action Plan, have a large component for sanitation-related work. However, respondents pointed out that NGOs have not been able to facilitate the transfer or use of these funds. In one case, an NGO, the Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development

3 Foundation has developed a cost-sharing mechanism for households that want to install water-seal toilets in Uttarakhand. Members said most sanitation funding is from the government, the World Bank, UN organizations and large bilateral donors. There are specific roles spelt out for different players in the sanitation sector, and NGOs have been allotted a very small part. In some cases, they have developed the information material, and in others, they are involved in monitoring and evaluation. NGOs also play an evaluation role in the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (an award given to panchayats who achieve 100 per cent sanitation) selection process. Panchayats channel all the incentive money under TSC for construction of toilets, and pay village motivators. However, in many states NGOs can use the additional funds for sanitation, devolved to the local government institutions, provided they implement projects in specified villages. NGOs have handled the shortage of funds for sanitation by adding sanitation-related activities to their existing projects. For example, those concerned with education have taken up hygiene issues in schools as specified under TSC guidelines. Others have launched campaigns in villages to encourage toilet construction under TSC. Given the paucity of funding sources for purely sanitation-related activities, and the TSC, members feel NGOs will have to be innovative in their approach to seeking project implementation funds. Comparative Experiences Dena Swachchh Gram Yojana (from Sujit G. Kumar, Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell (CSPC), Ahmedabad) There is a lack of finance to construct toilets in rural areas. The Bank launched the scheme under which it provides finance up to Rs. 10,000 for construction of toilets and bathrooms at low interest. NGOs and the Gram Panchayats help to educate people about the benefits of use of these amenities and motivate them. Last year, 498 households were financed by the Bank under this scheme. Read more. Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Programme (L-RAMP) (Arun Sharma, Rural Innovations Network, Chennai) The two main goals of the programme are to recognise and mentor innovative ideas which have the potential to benefit the Indian rural poor. An annual awards ceremony is organised where top innovators from Tamil Nadu and across India are recognised for their work. The L-RAMP Award of Excellence 2008 seeks to recognise achievers in the following categories: Grassroot Innovator, Young Innovator, Woman Innovator, Enterprise, Investor, Media and Lifetime Achievement. Read more. Yamuna Action Plan II (YAP) (from Vandana Tripathi, Consultant, Lucknow) Domestic sewage is a major source of pollution for the Yamuna River. To address this, the Union Government launched YAP that encourages local communities to take charge, as well as facilitate local contributions for toilet construction. Under the flagship of economic upliftment, several savings groups are formed who are saving Rs per month to create sanitation funds. However, no bank has agreed to open a bank account for such initiatives. Water-seal toilets for households (from Kalyan Paul, Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation, Ranikhet) The NGO, working in hilly areas, has been able to assist close to 500 homes each year to install twin pit water-seal sauchalayas (toilets) with a cost sharing mechanism whereby beneficiaries invest Rs. 6,000 in order to receive aid up to Rs. 1,800. The demand among communities in highest river basins and far outstrips the available assistance for promotion of sanitation facilities.

4 Related Resources Recommended Documentation From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate Urban Water and Sanitation News Newsletter; Indian Infrastructre Publishing; New Delhi; January 2008; Permission Required: Yes, subscription needed Available at Covers policies, regulations, projects, finance, service providers, sanitation and international news from urban water development and sanitation sector Sanitation: A Human Rights Imperative Report; by Maria Katsabanis; Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions, Water Aid, UN-Habitat, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Geneva; 2008 Available at (PDF, 716 KB) It is an advocacy tool to encourage more funding for sanitation, more debate and research into the barriers to accessing affordable sanitation and how to remove them Going Public: Southern Solutions to the Global Water Crisis Report; by High Warwick and Vicky Cann; World Development Movement; United Kingdom; 2007 Available at (PDF, 3.2 MB) It features public water experts from Brazil, India and Uganda, describing the successes they have had in connecting the poor to clean water and the related funding obtained Sanitation Promotion Book; by Mayling Simpson-Hébert and Sara Wood; Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and World Health Organization (WHO); Geneva; 1998 Available at The book is a compilation of article and best practices by WSSCC and WHO, to change public perceptions about the sanitation sector and attract crucial new investments Recommended Organizations and Programmes From Sujit G. Kumar, Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell (CSPC), Ahmedabad Dena Swachchh Gram Yojana, Maharashtra Dena Corporate Centre, C-10, G Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai Maharashtra; Tel: ; Dena Bank's scheme provides financial assistance for construction of toilets in rural areas to create hygienic conditions in rural areas of India Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Ltd, Maharashtra Peninsula Towers, 6th floor, Peninsula Corporate Park, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai The company provides micro-insurance to the low-income socio economic strata with a focus on people living in rural India, to help them overcome contingencies Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Programme (L-RAMP), Tamil Nadu (from Arun Sharma, Rural Innovations Network, Chennai)

5 2nd Floor, IC&SR, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai , Tamil Nadu; Tel: ; Fax: ; Programme aims at recognising and mentoring innovative ideas, which have the potential to benefit the Indian rural poor, including water and sanitation projects From Vandana Tripathi, Consultant, Lucknow WaterAid India, New Delhi 2nd floor, Durham Street, London, SE11 5JD, UK; Tel: ; Fax: ; WaterAid has developed practical techniques to help ensure the country's poor gain access to safe, sustainable and affordable water, sanitation and hygiene education UNICEF, New Delhi 73 Lodhi Estate, New Delhi , India; Tel: ; Fax: ; Worldwide, UNICEF works to improve water supplies and sanitation facilities in schools and communities, and to promote safe hygiene practices Water and Sanitation Programme, New Delhi 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C ; Tel: ; Fax: ; wsp@worldbank.org; The Water and Sanitation Programme is a multi-donor partnership led by the World Bank. It aims to help the poor gain sustained access to improved water supply and sanitation CapitalConnect, Haryana (from Aparna Vishwanatham) 602, Pacific Square, 32 Milestone, NH8, Gurgaon Haryana; Tel: ; contact@edacapitalconnect.com; Brings together providers and seekers of capital in the development sector/social enterprise space and allows focussed interactions among them Japan Water Forum, Japan (from Sajitha Joshy, Urban Management Centre, Ahmedabad) 5th Floor, Kojimachi Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, ; Tel: ; Fax: ;office@waterforum.jp; Forum supports grassroots organizations in developing countries involved in water-related activities and provides funding up to USD 1,000 per activity or project From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate Global Sanitation Fund, Switzerland International Environment House, Chemin des Anémones Châtelaine, Geneva, Switzerland; Tel: ; Fax: ; wsscc@who.int; It is a single pooled fund open to contribution from any source including governments, foundations, private sector and individuals for funding water and sanitation work World Sanitation Fund Project, Singapore 19 Toa Payoh West, Singapore ; Tel: ; Fax: ; info@worldtoilet.org; Aims to leverage public and private sources of capital to fund new sanitation projects, policies or action plans to be implemented within three to five years The Blue Planet Run Foundation, USA

6 500 Sansome St. Suite 205, San Francisco, CA USA; Tel: ; Fax: ; Funds project implementers agencies and NGOs with experience, credibility and a proven track record on issues related to water and sanitation India Rural Development Fund, USA 633 Festivo Ct, Fremont, CA 94539, USA; Tel: ; Fax: ; info@indiarural.org; Assists NGOs that are interested in establishing rural development initiatives with funding including for water and sanitation projects Aga Khan Development Network, Switzerland P. O. Box 2049, 1-3 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland; Tel: ; Fax: ; information@aiglemont.org; Through its Innovation Fund it provides grants to NGOs to support health, education and rural development activities through community groups, self-help groups, etc From Nitya Jacob, Resource Person Danish Development Cooperation, New Delhi 11 Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi ; Tel: ; Fax: ; delamb@um.dk; Focuses on many crosscutting issues, such as sustainable development, involvement of communities, catalysing gender equity, poverty reduction, sanitation, etc AWWA Research Foundation, USA 6666 W. Quincy Avenue, Denver, Colorado USA; Tel: ; Fax: ; info@awwarf.org; Issues requests for proposals for high priority drinking water projects and announces contract awards as they become available Water, Sanitation and Health (WSH) Programme, World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland Avenue Appia 20, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland; Tel: ; Fax: ; info@who.int; Programme periodically invites proposals for various works related to water, sanitation and hygiene interventions Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), USA 635 Slaters Lane, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA , USA; Tel: ; Fax: ; werf@werf.org; Funds water quality research and facilitates collaboration among organizations seeking funding partners for high-priority water related issues Recommended Portals and Information Bases Water from the Wells of Home in the Himalayas, Uttarakhand (from Kalyan Paul, Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation, Ranikhet) Gives an overview of community-managed water and sanitation initiatives in the Himalayas based on locally-appropriate technology

7 India Development Gateway, New Delhi (from Sajitha Joshy, Urban Management Centre, Ahmedabad) Part of the Government of India s efforts to pull together all development-related information in India, is a comprehensive source for funding and innovations in water and sanitation From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate Both ENDS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Tel: ; info@bothends.org Provides resources on donors and funding opportunities for the water and sanitation sector, along with descriptions of 30 organizations worldwide providing assistance in the area GlobalGiving, The GlobalGiving Foundation, Washington DC, USA Tel: Provides descriptions of various corporate/institutional partners, project partners, and funding partners cooperating with GlobalGiving on sanitation and other projects Eco Business Links - Environmental Directory, USA Provides an extensive list of projects and funding sources available for sustainable development projects, including water and sanitation projects Water Quality Information Centre, United States Department of Agriculture, USA Tel: Highlights useful information on funding for various types of projects involving water and sanitation related issues in the United States Recommended Tools and Technologies From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate Benchmarking Water and Sanitation Utilities Guidance Manual for Compact Disk; Owned by World Bank, Washington DC Available at (PDF; 40 KB); helpdesk@worldbank.org Provides guidance on using a CD and comparative costs and performance data on water and sanitation to provide efficient and financially viable services for the poor Simplified Sewerage: Windows Based PC Design Package Windows-Based design programme; Owned by School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, United Kingdom Available at Contact Professor Duncan Mara; D.D.Mara@leeds.ac.uk Provides a design manual and a Windows-based design programme to simplify sewerage design for sanitation engineers in developing countries that are affordable Recommended Upcoming Events World Sanitation Fund Forum, Macau, 4-6 November 2008 (from Sunetra Lala, Research Associate) Sponsored by World Toilet Organisation, Singapore. Information available at

8 Contact Ginn Lee; Creating a sustainable marketplace for sanitation and will look into private, public and people s participation to attain sanitation needs Related Consolidated Replies International Funding Agencies Supporting NGOs in Water Conservation, from Avani Mohan Singh, Hartika, Uttar Pradesh (Advice). Water Community, Issued 29 July 2005 Available at (PDF, 43 KB Identifies funding agencies providing financing opportunities for NGOs involved in water conservation activities Financing Urban Water and Sanitation Projects that Include the Poor, from Chetan Vaidya, USAID-India, New Delhi (Experiences). Water Community, Issued 30 March 2006 Available at (PDF, 150 KB) Provides examples of commercially viable urban infrastructure investment projects, for extending access to drinking water and sanitation services for poor people living in cities Responses in Full Sajitha Joshy, Urban Management Centre, Ahmedabad It is indeed a very noble initiative started by you. Hopefully, you will find the following information useful. At the same time, I will also add more if relevant information is found. The Japan Water Forum (JWF) supports grassroots organizations in developing countries involved in water-related activities. They provide up to US$ 1,000 per activity or project. However, receiving a grant is limited to once a year for each selected organization. The application form and guidelines for the JWF Fund 2008 is available at: (Source: WES-NET) Please also refer to the India Development Gateway at for more details. Sujit G. Kumar, Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell (CSPC), Ahmedabad Nowadays institutional finance at low interest rates is also available for implementation of sanitation related activities. The DENA Bank has initiated this process in Gujarat and has come out with detailed guidelines facilitating the same. (Please refer to Circular No: 330/83/2006 dated 10 January 2006) The Dena Swachchh Gram Yojana is a scheme for providing financial assistance for construction of toilets in rural areas so as to create hygienic conditions in rural areas. The loan amount is a maximum of Rs 10,000/- and is subject to unit cost as approved by respective State Governments/GoI or as estimated by Branch officials. Repayment mode The loan is to be repaid over 5 years including a moratorium period of 3 months from the date of disbursal. Interest rate The current rate of interest is 7.75% per annum and in case of SC/STs loans up to Rs 5000/- is also available at an interest rate of 4%. More details are available on the Dena Bank website.

9 Even private players such as Tata-AIG are developing financial packages to support sanitation related activities. More information about the same can be availed from Rural, Social & Micro Insurance, Tata AIG, Life Insurance Corporation, 476, 6th Block, 80Ft Road, Koramangala, Bangalore Arun Sharma, Rural Innovations Network, Chennai The Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Programme (L-RAMP) (please visit for more details) is a Chennai-based programme which is jointly operated by Rural Innovations Network ( and IIT-Madras ( and could address the funding needs mentioned by you. The two main goals of the programme are to recognise and mentor innovative ideas which have the potential to benefit the Indian rural poor. This is achieved in the following ways: Recognition We hold an annual awards ceremony where top innovators from Tamil Nadu and across India are recognised for their work. The next awards programme is coming up in October 2008, the details and application procedure of which is available at Mentoring We provide incubation support to help ideas grow from a concept into a viable enterprise. If the idea meets the three criteria of: 1. being innovative, 2. having social benefit for the rural poor, and 3. having the potential to be built into a business then our programme can provide the following types of support funding, in the form of an interest-free loan, for up to Rs. 2500,000/- and technical mentoring business development mentoring through access to networks Please feel free to contact me should you like any further information or would like to discuss a specific proposal. Vandana Tripathi, Consultant, Lucknow I am writing to you from Uttar Pradesh and would like to support the fact in the country no awakening promises are being made with regards to water and sanitation, more so in the urban areas. The marginalisation of urban poor caused by poor sanitation and hygiene conditions get further compounded by subsidising their needs in the name of "illegality". I am currently working for Yamuna Action Plan II and our focus is on upgrading the neighbourhoods (communities) Community Toilet Complexes in 8 towns namely Ghaziabad, Noida, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Mathura, Vrindavan, Etawah and Agra. The programme theme envisages that instead of fetching external resource/funding for making small improvements, the local communities should take charge, as well as facilitate local contributions. Under the flagship of economic upliftment, several savings groups are formed who are saving Rs per month (about members). The idea promulgated is to create a sanitation fund and encourage inter-loaning, particularly for upgrading the hygiene and sanitary services and conditions in the neighbourhood. However, no bank is ready to open an account which has caused discouragement and a feeling of dejection amongst the urban poor as well as the facilitating NGOs. Although negotiations are on with several banks, however, the risk of non-payment of the loan is a big gamble which no one is interested to take. In future a better strategy would be to first seek the involvement of local banks and thereafter encourage schemes for loan funding for small projects. To end, donor agencies presently supporting the cause of sanitation and health such as UNICEF, Plan International and Water Aid are primarily focusing on the rural needs of the country. I hope that there are some more contacts which I too can fetch through this query.

10 Aparna Vishwanatham, EDA CapitalConnect Ltd., Gurgaon Of relevance to the discussion may be a service that we offer known as CapitalConnect. This is a platform that brings together providers and seekers of capital in the development sector/social enterprise space and allows focussed interactions among them. Participants registered worldwide on CapitalConnect are social enterprises, lenders to/investors in those enterprises and social entrepreneurs. You will find details regarding the service at and you can view our demo at S. Damodaran, WaterPartners International, Trichy* The query on funding sources for water and sanitation projects has not been fully responded to by our members. This means there is a lack of funding sources for such projects, the quantum of funds is small, or it is not an important issue. We can also assume that members are not aware of the funding sources. I am sending this because there is a large community of NGOs working for water and sanitation that cannot get funding for their projects. As per the MDG target, we need to construct 300,000 toilets everyday. Within India, one can imagine how much demand is there. With no potential sources of funding available for this cause, how can we achieve sanitation for all? We may not expect large subsidies of gifts, but people have to really come forward to get loan and support for these activities where 100% repayments are made in respect of loans provided to self-help groups through micro-finance institutions. My sincere thanks to agencies who already contributed to this discussion. * Offline Contribution Swati Sharma, Saviours, Meerut Dear members, I would like to mention that most sanitation funding is from the government, the World Bank, UN organizations and large bilateral donors. There are specific roles spelt out for different players in the sanitation sector, and NGOs have been allotted a very small part. In some cases, they have developed the information material, and in others, they are involved in monitoring and evaluation. NGOs also play an evaluation role in the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (an award given to panchayats who achieve 100 per cent sanitation) selection process. Panchayats channel all the incentive money under TSC for construction of toilets, and pay village motivators. However, in many states NGOs can use the additional funds for sanitation, devolved to the local government institutions, provided they implement projects in specified villages. Kalyan Paul, Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation, Ranikhet Dear members, We have been involved with spearheading WATSAN programmes in the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for almost two decades and would agree with S Damodaran about the lack of focus regarding promotion of such activities on a wider scale, especially in terms of the MDGs. All those interested may write us about a DVD on Infiltration Wells - an Appropriate Technology for Community Managed Drinking Water Systems.

11 We have been able to assist close to 500 homes each year to install twin pit water-seal sauchalayas with a cost sharing mechanism whereby beneficiaries invest Rs. 6,000 in order to receive aid up to Rs.1,800. Ironically, the demand among communities in highest river basins and far outstrips the available assistance for promotion of sanitation facilities. This network could perhaps think of an innovative method for filling this void. Gyanendra Mishra, UDAAN Society, Aligarh Dear members, The issue raised by Mr. Damodaran is definitely faced by many NGOs, CBOs and other organizations working the field of water and sanitation. They really need constant support and funding to continuously manage their ground level work, or else their efforts go in vain. In this regards I would like to suggest that organizations working in the field of WAS can establish Rural Sanitary Marts (RSMs)/Production Centres (PC) on their own or with the funds collected through the community. This will benefit them in many ways. First, the organization will be able to maintain a continuous supply of sanitary products needed by the community. Secondly, organizations can get necessary funding support from the profit generated by sale of sanitary products. Thirdly, it will be able to fill the gap of demand and supply on time, and fourthly, the community will get the necessary technological support. The RSM/PC can serve as a place of demonstration of rural low cost technology. That apart, organizations with any unique idea in the field of WAS can approach the State Office of UNICEF for their concerned state and Water Aid India for funding. Lastly, it would be better for the organizations to come with up ideas of manufacturing of sanitary napkins, establishment of Force Lift handpumps, etc. With these new and lesser-known technological options they can maintain their rapport as well as generate funds for their project related with water and sanitation. Many thanks to all who contributed to this query! If you have further information to share on this topic, please send it to Solution Exchange for the Water Community in India at se-wes@solutionexchange-un.net.in with the subject heading Re: [se-watr] Query: Funding Sources for Water and Sanitation Projects - Experiences: Referrals. Additional Reply. Disclaimer: In posting messages or incorporating these messages into synthesized responses, the UN accepts no responsibility for their veracity or authenticity. Members intending to use or transmit the information contained in these messages should be aware that they are relying on their own judgment. Copyrighted under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5. Re-users of this material must cite as their source Solution Exchange as well as the item s recommender, if relevant, and must share any derivative work with the Solution Exchange Community. Solution Exchange is a UN initiative for development practitioners in India. For more information please visit