Snapshot From Stockholm World Water Week: Tapping Capital Markets to Fund WASH Services

Stephen Sena, knowledge management and economic growth specialist for Tetra Tech International Development Services, recently provided a recap of the Stockholm World Water Week event and Tetra Tech’s presence on the Globalwaters.org website, a knowledge resource hub for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Stephen gives an overview of the session “Tapping Capital Markets to Finance WASH Investments,” hosted by the USAID Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Finance (WASH-FIN) project. Stephen, who serves as deputy chief of party for WASH-FIN, discusses the project’s role in identifying ways to invest in and fund safe water and sanitation in developing countries around the world.

From the blog:

Safe water and sanitation are crucial for human health and economies. But how do we pay for these essential services and unlock new sources of funding? This question was at the forefront of topics at Stockholm World Water Week 2017, an annual gathering of more than 3,000 doers and thinkers in the water sector.

At Stockholm, USAID’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Finance (WASH-FIN) activity convened a session entitled: “Tapping Capital Markets to Finance WASH Investments.” A 2016 World Bank analysis estimated that $114 billion per year of investments will be required to meet universal access to safely manage water and sanitation services by 2030, or about three times current levels. Commercial finance can play a critical role in filling this enormous gap through investments in creditworthy water and sanitation providers to improve, maintain, or expand their services to reach more communities. As commercial finance increases, scarce public resources can be leveraged and targeted to communities with the most challenging barriers to improved service delivery.

Read the full post on Globalwaters.org.