Accessing Commercial Finance for Water and Sanitation Service Providers in Kenya, Cambodia, and Senegal

This paper presents three case studies from the USAID Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Finance (WASH-FIN) Program, which illustrate different approaches to leveraging commercial finance in the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector. The program implemented activities in ten countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America since 2016 and helped raise over US $118.8 million from a mix of public and private financing sources. These three examples from Kenya, Cambodia, and Senegal are representative of the program’s efforts to help close financing gaps utilizing both public and commercial funding sources. 

The purpose of this report is to document and reflect on the technical assistance approaches in three countries where providers were able to access commercial financing. The cases describe the context, challenge, and process of how WASH-FIN partnered with service providers to unlock finance.  

Related resources:

• Tracking Water and Sanitation Financing in Kenya and Mozambique: Building Evidence for Increased Investments to the Sector (August 2022)
• Tracking WASH Financing in Kenya: Round I & II
• Tracking WASH Financing in Kenya - Round III
• Increasing Financing for Private Water Operators in Cambodia
• Scaling Up Financing for Urban Sanitation in Senegal