Financing, whether public or private, is essential to the development, maintenance and improvement of water supply and sanitation (WSS) systems.
The SDGs call upon the world to achieve universal WSS access that is safe, affordable, and available to all by 2030.
The World Bank Group’s Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP) understands that additional finance for water infrastructure is absolutely critical to achieve the SDGs.
The GWSP also operates on the understanding that improving WSS financing involves three components.
One effective way to achieve this is for governments to establish the policy, planning and governance frameworks that will improve the sector efficiency, transparency and creditworthiness to attract the commercial finance required to meet WSS goals.
Second, improving service providers’ performance and governance.
Increasing both operational and capital efficiency allows service providers to deliver better services more effectively, thus freeing up resources to invest in improving or extending services.
Thanks to Bangladesh’s experience of rural microfinance, lessons learned here can be replicated elsewhere and are being incorporated into the design of a larger World Bank-funded project.
The GWSP will continue to provide support through analytical work, technical assistance and knowledge to support innovative approaches that leverage commercial finance for water supply and sanitation.
The panels cover topics ranging from “Can Valuing Water Change our Attitude towards Water?” to “Follow up on the High-Level Panel Water: Financing & Valuing.” The work of the GWSP demonstrates that financing to support water investments may include the full spectrum of funding sources from micro-finance to vendor or supplier finance to commercial loans, bonds and even equity.