Bangladesh
Bangladesh's water and sanitation crisis
With a population of 165 million, 5 million people in Bangladesh lack access to safe water and 85 million lack improved sanitation. In Bangladesh and around the world, millions are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic with the added challenge of living without access to safe water. Now more than ever access to safe water is critical to the health of families in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a global leader when it comes to microfinance and is known as the birthplace of this innovative financial model. Since the 1970s, vibrant and sustained growth in the microfinance sector has resulted in enormous impact on financial inclusion of those living in poverty, particularly women.
Bangladesh’s high need for water and sanitation improvements, along with its healthy microfinance sector and government support, make it an ideal market for Water.org’s financial solutions to the water crisis.
Bangladesh
Capital: DhakaOur impact in Bangladesh
Since 2003, Water.org has partnered with some of Bangladesh’s leading microfinance institutions to empower more than 1.8 million people with access to water and sanitation through small, affordable loans.
More than 343,000 loans have been disbursed by our partners, with more than $101 million provided in loans to people in need of safe water and sanitation.
We seek to expand impact with our current partners and create new partnerships with additional microfinance institutions and commercial banks. Commercial banks are critical to our expansion strategy as they can offer low-interest loan products to a broad audience of people in need. We will also partner with financial institutions to explore offering loans for water and sanitation through digital financial services so that customers can access and repay loans using their mobile phones.
Water.org has strong partnerships with sector stakeholders in Bangladesh, such as the World Bank and Palli-Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF). These types of partnerships are critical to driving policies that free capital for water and sanitation lending and encourage uptake of financial solutions to help end the water crisis.
To help us reach more people in need of safe water and sanitation in Bangladesh, donate today.
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