Water.org Bangladesh recently organized a high-level webinar to draw attention to the plight of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) at a time of COVID-19, and also highlight the importance of WASH Financing at this time.
The webinar was arranged in partnership with AS & Associates, a leading legal and corporate advisory firm; WaterAid, a leading International NGO focusing on water sanitation and hygiene; and had high-level panelists from UNICEF, UN Capital Development Fund, and Water.org India and Bangladesh leadership. Although COVID-19 is a public health crisis, one of the mitigants is access to safe water for hand washing, and good hygiene.
Water.org is an international development agency and its Bangladeshi operations have reached more 1.5 million people with safe water and safely managed sanitation in over 60 districts of Bangladesh. It has worked for years in this area, and COVID-19 renders access to safe water and safely managed sanitation even more important. Since Water.org works with partner financial institutions to provide financing facilities to people at the bottom of the pyramid so that they can access water and sanitation, the webinar encouraged government sector stakeholders to earmark support for MFI’s working in the water and sanitation space.
Further advocacy efforts are expected to ensue in order to enable to the government to prioritize the area of WASH financing.
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