200,000 to benefit from Caterpillar WaterCredit financing

The Caterpillar Foundation and Water.org have announced a USD3 million program to provide over 200,000 people with clean water and sanitation in India and Indonesia.

The three-year plan will expand Water.org's existing WaterCredit activities in India and look at launching WaterCredit in Indonesia. WaterCredit facilitates small loans for water and sanitation access for people living in poverty without any access.

"Because of Caterpillar's generous support, we will reach more people with clean water and sanitation, at a faster rate, and at a decreasing philanthropic cost-per-person. Furthermore, we will also be able to attract divergent sources of capital to support lending in the water and sanitation sector in South Asia," said Water.org chief executive officer and co-founder Gary White.

The foundation is the charitable arm of the USD48 billion, US-based industrial and construction equipment maker, Caterpillar. It has already drawn up detailed plans as to how the money will be distributed through Watercredit which leverages commercial financing into micro-loans.

Two WaterCredit programs in India will get a tranche of the cash, including the expansion of a revolving loan fund managed by one of Water.org's local partners in Bangalore to provide an additional 8,000 households (about 38,400 people) with access to micro-loans for clean water and sanitation. Once a loan is repaid, it is then re-lent to another project or individual.

Another 180,000 households in Bangalore and Tamil Nadu will benefit from loan facilitation in providing access to hygienic sanitation. The grant will also fund an assessment of Indonesia for micro-financing water and sanitation projects.