Microfinance institutions play significant roles in sanitation development to provide alternative financing schemes for community members who lack financial capacity to access safely managed sanitation facility in cash.
Understanding this role, PT Nusantara Bina Artha (NBA), the holder of BPR Nusumma group and BPR Nusumma Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java are committed to implementing sanitation credit by signing MoU with USAID IUWASH PLUS to participate in the WASH microfinance program in September 2020. The operational areas of BPR Nusumma Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java cover some of USAID IUWASH PLUS’ areas, namely Sukoharjo district, Surakarta city, Magelang district, and Malang district, respectively. Since September 2020, the BPRs in the respective district/city have received trainings and assistance from USAID IUWASH PLUS to develop and implement WASH microcredit.
In order to ensure that the sanitation credit is implemented effectively, the banks require updated and rigorous data on community’s sanitation access. Such information will help the bank to map the potential markets and to develop an effective marketing strategy. Unfortunately, the accurate data on sanitation access is not yet available for BPR Nusumma in Malang district, whose service covers Gondanglegi sub-district. Thus, USAID IUWASH PLUS, in collaboration with Malang district health office and Puskesmas Gondanglegi, piloted a census on the household sanitation access in Gondanglegi Kulon village.
The census was conducted by 30 Posyandu cadres using mWater, an open-source application specifically designed to collect digital data on water, sanitation, and health. On October 21 and 22, 2020, USAID IUWASH PLUS trained the cadres on how to use mWater. The cadres, with support from puskesmas and health office, conducted the census to 3,242 households in Gondanglegi Kulon village from the last week of October to the end of November, 2020. Not only did they collect information on types of sanitation facility that each respondent has, but the cadres also recorded the respondents’ name, address, and coordinates. The census found that 39.3 percent of respondents do not have a toilet with septic tank at home.
In November 2020, USAID IUWASH PLUS shared the census results with BPR Nusumma in Malang district and BPR Nusumma East Java. “The data is very good. It will clearly be beneficial for us,” said the Executive Director of BPR Nusumma East Java, Mr. Giri Batjo.
The Head of BPR Nusumma of Malang Office, Mrs. Luluk Kurnianingsih, also said that information on the sanitation market potential from USAID IUWASH PLUS really helps the BPR to implement the sanitation micro credit.
BPR Nusumma in Malang district started promoting its sanitation credit in mid-December 2020. The bank is ready to provide a maximum credit of 10 million rupiahs to build a toilet with septic tank and bathroom and has set a target to sell 200 sanitation credits during 2021. Additionally, the bank has started working with the posyandu cadres to promote the sanitation credit to the census respondents who do not have a toilet with septic tank.
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