ADFIAP, ECO-Asia sign water financing development strategy

The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Environmental Cooperation Asia (ECO-Asia) and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) have entered into a capacity-building agreement for the development of an Asia-wide water financing strategy.

The project to be undertaken jointly by ADFIAP and ECO-Asia aims to develop appropriate business models for banks and other financial institutions in the Asian region to come up with new financial facilities and services for the water sector.

The project study will focus on three potential target groups for financing – water utilities, small entrepreneurs and individual households.

The one-year project’s activities will include research on existing lending facilities to the water sector, identification of information gaps and risks that deter lending to the water sector, and documentation of successful small water businesses in rural and urban poor areas in the region.

The initial results of the study will then be presented in a Regional Water Financing Workshop to be held in Manila in November this year.

ADFIAP is the focal point of all development banks and other financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific region and has currently 95 members in 37 countries. Its mission is to advance sustainable development through its members.