Tiered blended finance fund that provides debt financing to financial institutions and enterprises serving the water and sanitation needs of families living in poverty in Asia.

Executive Summary

WaterCredit Investment Fund 3 (WCIF3) is a blended fund that provides debt financing to financial institutions and enterprises serving the water and sanitation needs of families living in poverty in Asia. WCIF3 was launched by WaterEquity, an impact investment manager established by Water.org cofounders Gary White and Matt Damon. WaterEquity is the first impact investment manager dedicated to ending the global water crisis. WCIF3 is WaterEquity’s first fund to use blended finance and is comprised of tiers of equity, catalytic debt facilities including multiple zero- and low-interest loans, and a first-loss guarantee.
Establishment of the Watercredit Investment Fund 3 (WCIF3), which invests in financial institutions and enterprises that expand access to safe water and sanitation products. WCIF3 reached first close and began disbursing capital in October 2018; as of March 2019, the Fund has provided eight loans to investees, including seven financial institutions and one water and sanitation enterprise, across the four priority countries.
Water.org assisted the Fund in identifying a scalable pipeline with sustainable impact outcomes – WaterEquity selected its pipeline for WCIF3 primarily from top-performing Water.org microfinance partners.
Socioeconomic impacts of the Fund include economic and social benefits from improved water and sanitation services, such as increased overall health and monetary savings from improved water infrastructure. Additionally, WCIF3 has supported approximately 60,000 microloans to individuals/families within the target countries to assist them in meeting their water and sanitation needs; 93% of borrowers are women.
Environmental impacts of the Fund include providing improved water and sanitation services to families living in poverty in Asia. As of July 2019, Implementation of WCIF3 has resulted in the following:
• 224,100 people with access to sanitation
• 39,700 people with access to water
• 9,373 people with access to water and sanitation