ONE YEAR WITH WATER.ORG

The Hand in Hand and water.org project to provide water connections and toilets completed one year in December 2009.

Health expenditure is the second major cause of debt in rural India. As part of our fight to improve health conditions among the poor, we have partnered with water.org to set up 2,100 toilets and 4,200 water connections in 30 months. The project has two components: awareness building and extending micro credit for toilets and water connections.

The Wat San microfinance loan product was introduced in June 2009. As on December 2009, loans totalling INR 8.6 million have been disbursed for 1,418 water connections and 763 toilets.

Hand in Hand workers go to the villages and build awareness among self-help group women through street plays, meetings etc. Then, water engineers are sent, who do the surveys and make technical recommendations. This is followed by a micro loan of INR 6,000 for toilets and INR 3,000 for water taps. We follow up to ensure that the loans are indeed used for the given purpose and to ensure that the toilets and taps are in working condition. Regular reports on the progress of the project are sent to water.org  

The water and sanitation project is being implemented in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu over a period of 30 months starting December 2008.