FINISH Mondial (FM) is based on the Diamond Model – a multi-stakeholder approach to tackle both the supply and demand sides of the sanitation challenge. The Diamond Model includes four main domains: communities, businesses, financiers and governments, who jointly work together towards the (a) development of local sanitation markets and (b) inclusive scale of these markets, leaving no one behind.    

Following three insightful FINISH Mondial Family webinars discussing the different domains of the Diamond Model, we held another webinar on November 11 where we focused on financial innovations. The webinar began with an introduction to the finance side of the Diamond Model by Pamela Bundi (FM Kenya) and Valentin Post (CEO, FINISH Mondial) who discussed the role of financial institutions in providing services for communities, businesses and the government. They also explained how FM works together with financial institutions to facilitate different activities such as product development, demand generation, outreach to investors, and partnerships. 

Different countries have different approaches that work best for them in terms of financial innovations. In this webinar, two cases were presented from FM India and Tanzania. 

Abhijit Banerji (FM India Country Coordinator; Managing Director FINISH Society) spoke on behalf of Abhishek Choudhury (FINISH Society) who shared his experience. Abhijit spoke shared how sanitation financing partnerships work in India and how different partnership models use different approaches and involve different people. Abhijit also explained how they conduct tailormade training and capacity building programmes for partner MFIs.  

When talking about financial innovations, the Sanitation Impact Bond is very relevant, especially in India where the pilot project was initiated. Through the CASHPOR pilot project, they aim to provide 35,000 sanitation loans with 100% conversion and usage for a period of 3 years starting from Feb 1, 2019. So far, around 20,500 loans have already been disbursed through different validation processes. While the past few months have delayed the results a little and brought the project to a standstill, they expect to make up for the delay in progress by early next year.  

Christopher Ndangala (FM Tanzania Country Coordinator) was the next speaker and he discussed the engagement of grassroot financial institutions (GFI) and financial institutions (FI) on loans for sanitation systems in the Serengeti District, Mara Region in Tanzania. To provide a quick overview, Ndangala first explained why they opted to work with GFIs, how exactly they engage with them and how they ensure capacity development for GFI leaders and staff engagement with the FM team. He also explained that the issuing of sanitation loans by GFIs is a detailed process which comes with many advantages and disadvantages. 

Following the presentations by both speakers, there was a Q&A session. For more information, you can access the recording and slides of this session. You can also find a recap of our previous webinars here.