Improving access to water and sanitation: Lessons learned in Central America and the Dominican Republic

© José Manuel del Busto

Between 2018 and 2021, ADA and REDCAMIF, the regional microfinance network in Central America and the Caribbean, implemented projects to improve access to water and sanitation services in seven microfinance institutions (MFIs) affiliated to REDCAMIF in five countries. These projects were developed in response to a lack of decent housing and access to safe drinking water among low-income clients. 

In total, 1,154 clients took out a ‘water and sanitation’ loan for the improvement or construction of bathrooms, sinks, toilets, water tanks, septic tanks, biodigesters and water collectors. These results should be seen in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had a strong impact on clients and MFIs and made it more difficult to achieve the targets.

The following MFIs participated in the project: Asociación Hábitat para la Humanidad (El Salvador); Banco ADOPEM (Dominican Republic); Banco Popular (Honduras); Fundación de Asistencia para la Pequeña Empresa (Guatemala); Fundación Horizontes de Amistad (Honduras); MAYAVERSATIL S.A. (Guatemala); and Pana Pana (Nicaragua). The following document summarises the experience of these seven MFIs and presents the key results of each project:

ADA and REDCAMIF have developed innovative financial and non-financial products and services for over ten years. While a previous programme introduced the social housing concept that improved access to water and sanitation services, the 2018-2021 programme ‘Strengthening the social added value of microfinance’ put the lessons learned into practice.