Microfinance Focus, November 30, 2011: Caterpillar Foundation, the philanthrophic arm of manufacturing company Caterpillar Inc, and Water.org, a non-profit organization providing safe water and sanitation, announced a $3 million partnership to reach more than 218, 000 people with clean water and sanitation over three years. The program will support a significant expansion of Water.org's WaterCredit activities in India, and also fund a market assessment to explore the launch of WaterCredit in Indonesia for the first time.

WaterCredit is an initiative of Water.org that puts microfinance tools to use in the water and sanitation sector. WaterCredit facilitates small loans for water and sanitation access for people living in poverty without access to these most basic necessities. A successful, market-based solution, WaterCredit is accelerating large-scale, sustainable progress against the water and sanitation crisis.

The Caterpillar Foundation grant will support two WaterCredit programs in India. This includes 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. Through this financial model, once a loan is repaid, it is then re-lent to the next person in need.

The Caterpillar grant will also support Water.org's work with its existing microfinance partners in Bangalore and Tamil Nadu, India. It will facilitate WaterCredit loans for sanitation purposes, enabling more than 180,000 residents to gain access to hygienic sanitation facilities such as household toilets.

Finally, the Caterpillar Foundation grant will fund an initial market assessment in Indonesia by the Water.org team to assess and lay the groundwork for the launch of WaterCredit in Indonesia.