Snapshot from Stockholm World Water Week: Tapping Capital Markets to Fund WASH Services

Stephen Sena, knowledge management and economic growth specialist for Tetra Tech International Development Services, provides a recap of the Stockholm World Water Week event and Tetra Tech’s presence on the Globalwaters.org website, a knowledge resource hub for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Read the full post on Globalwaters.org.

Stephen gives an overview of the session “Tapping Capital Markets to Finance WASH Investments,” hosted by the USAID Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Finance (WASH-FIN) project. Stephen, who serves as deputy chief of party for WASH-FIN, discusses the project’s role in identifying ways to invest in and fund safe water and sanitation in developing countries around the world. All opinions expressed in this post are the author’s own.

At Stockholm, USAID’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Finance (WASH-FIN) activity convened a session entitled: “Tapping Capital Markets to Finance WASH Investments.” A 2016 World Bank analysis estimated that $114 billion per year of investments will be required to meet universal access to safely manage water and sanitation services by 2030, or about three times current levels. Commercial finance can play a critical role in filling this enormous gap through investments in creditworthy water and sanitation providers to improve, maintain, or expand their services to reach more communities. As commercial finance increases, scarce public resources can be leveraged and targeted to communities with the most challenging barriers to improved service delivery.

Stephen Sena

Stephen Sena

Stephen Sena, knowledge management and economic growth specialist for Tetra Tech International Development Services, has more than 15 years of economic development experience encompassing management and technical assistance on international programs in WASH and basic urban services, SME and social enterprise development, and local economic and community development. He has worked on behalf of the private sector, USAID, the World Bank, and HUD in locations including Armenia, India, Kenya, Peru, and Tanzania. Mr. Sena currently serves as deputy chief of party for the global USAID WASH-FIN activity, where he leads the knowledge management component and supports access to market finance, and tracking of domestic investment components.