On October 28, 2021, USAID IUWASH PLUS organized a workshop to support WASH financing facility and expansion of water and sanitation microfinance. This event was held in person in Jakarta and through an online platform.
Opening the event, the Director of the Environment Office of USAID Indonesia, Mr. Brian Dusza, said “Microfinance is exxpected to become a prominent solution for households in their efforts to attain safely managed water and sanitation through installment scheme.”
Similar views are also shared by the Senior Planner of the Facility and Infrastructure Deputy of the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, Mr. Budi Hidayat.
He highlighted that funding sources other than those coming from the government should be optimized because water and sanitation access provision requires enormous budget. It is estimated that provision of the water access needs Rp 123.4 T and Rp. 140.4 T for the sanitation.
“To support the microcredit expansion, the Government of Indonesia with assistance from USAID IUWASH PLUS and Water.Org have developed policy paper on WASH microfinance. The document sets forth policy recommendations for WASH microcredit, such as financing and supporting policies, that need to be developed at national level,” said Mr. Hidayat.
The introduction was followed by discussions on the WASH microfinance potential mapping, challenges in fields, and action plans. Speaking in the discussions were the directors from the relevant ministries, OJK, and financial institutions.
This workshop resulted in an agreed-upon follow up plans. For example, the financial service authority will apply risk management to the financial institutions that have WASH microfinance. The MPWH will map beneficiary segmentation and provide quality certification for masons. The Ministry of Home Affairs will also encourage local governments to allocate budget that can be used for financial institutions’ capital. The Ministry of Health will prepare a guideline for sanitarians so that they have better understanding on WASH microfinance and are able to integrate it into promotional activities. The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs will organize sharing sessions on WASH microfinance that some cooperatives have successfully implemented.