I am working on a WATSAN project in Afghanistan and am tasked with identifying innovative initiatives taking place within the India that may have some application in Afghanistan. Specifically, I am interested in identifying successful instances of:
- Water and sanitation microfinance for enterprises. I have already discovered and visited with the folks at Guardian in TN, and am impressed by their model and successes. However, their program centers on end-user household credit, not enterprise lending. I'm eager to find examples where MFIs or commercial lenders have targeted small and medium WATSAN enterprises and provided credit for capacity or working capital. Private public partnership examples involving the government awarding contracts or subsidies to private operators for service deliveries is also of secondary interest.
- Examples of successful hygiene-related enterprises in rural India. I have heard of sanitation stores in West Bengal where soap and water sanitizers have been sold, but if there are examples of public programs in India that provide techical support, training and capital for hygiene enterprises, I would love to hear more about them.
Any leads or direction that you could provide would be enormously appreciated! Thanks in adance.
Sincerely,
Christopher Neidl
www.arcfinance.org