We welcome applications from established enterprises with revenue-generating activities in Kenya that are beyond proof-of-concept and scaling their core products and services. 

Selected enterprises may receive tailored grant funding and/or technical assistance to support them; strengthen their long-term financial sustainability and improve access to finance.

Scaling water and sanitation solutions in Kenya 

Through Making Water Count, Aqua for All supports local impact-driven water and sanitation enterprises to strengthen their market-based solutions and attract additional capital. By combining catalytic funding and technical assistance with public and private funding, we aim to contribute to a stronger and more resilient water and sanitation market.. 

The new call covers a range of solutions, including safe drinking water services, smart water technologies, non-revenue water reduction, climate-resilient water supply, sanitation services, faecal sludge management and circular economy solutions.  

We are particularly interested in approaches that contribute to climate resilience and gender equality. 

Our impact in Kenya: Aqua Clara Kenya

Our partnership with Aqua Clara Kenya illustrates how catalytic finance can support an enterprise as it scales while maintaining its focus on impact. 

Aqua Clara provides affordable household and community water filters and other water and sanitation products, with a focus on rural and peri-urban communities. As the enterprise sought to scale and raise additional commercial capital, an important challenge was balancing commercial growth with its mission to continue reaching customers with lower income and not in immediate reach. 

Aqua Clara received Social Impact Incentives (SIINC) linked to specific impact outcomes. The incentives support Aqua Clara to grow its lower-income customer base, expand distribution hubs into areas with greater potential for impact and strengthen effective water filter maintenance.

As Aqua Clara CEO John Nyagwencha describes it, Impact-Linked Finance helps the enterprise pursue the impact it wants to achieve but cannot always reach through commercial incentives alone. Read the snapshot and the interview.

Are you part of the Kenyan water and sanitation value chain?

Through this new call, we are looking to partner with more growth-stage enterprises in Kenya that are ready to scale proven water and sanitation solutions and strengthen their long-term financial sustainability. 

Applications are open until Sunday, 20 September 2026. 

Interested enterprises are encouraged to review the full Call for Proposals and Application Guidance for detailed information on priority areas, eligibility criteria and the application process. 

View the Call for Proposals and apply.

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Organised annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), World Water Week is one of the leading global platforms for dialogue and collaboration on water, sanitation, climate resilience and sustainable development. 

From innovative finance and climate resilience to human rights and private sector engagement, Aqua for All is contributing to conversations that explore how safe water and sanitation can reach everyone, especially those most often left behind. 

This year’s World Water Week theme, Water for People and Progress, highlights the vital role of water security, sanitation, healthy ecosystems, and climate adaptation in building resilient communities and economies. 

Join our sessions, meet our team, and explore the resources we’re bringing to Stockholm.

Featured session

Reaching the most vulnerable through innovative investment approaches 

25 August 2026
World Water Week, Stockholm
Panel discussion 

Organised by: Aqua for All, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Stone Family Foundation and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands

How can investment approaches help reach the people most often left behind? 

Affordable, safely managed water and sanitation services for vulnerable populations are often viewed as difficult to reconcile with financially sustainable business models. Yet around the world, enterprises are already demonstrating that both are possible. 

This session explores how private sector solutions, combined with public and catalytic financing, can help close the gap in access to safe water and sanitation.

Sign up for the session on-site or online on the event website.

Speakers & agenda

Moderator: Sietse Blom, Lead Partnerships & Investor Relations at Aqua for All

First panel: donor perspective (30min)

Panellists:

Bruce Campbell, Senior Policy Advisor at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Ben Shergold, Investment Manager at the Stone Family Foundation

Eva Schreuder, Head of Water at the NL Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Tim Evers, Head of Impact & Knowledge at Aqua for All

Intermission (5 min)

Second panel: enterprise perspective (30 min)

Panellists:

Minhaj Chowdhury, CEO Drinkwell

Mikael Dupuis, Deputy Managing Director at UDUMA

Camille Huret, Consultant at Women Empowerment for Climate

Maia Gedde, Senior Technical Lead at Save the Children Global Ventures

Meet our team at World Water Week 

In addition to our featured sessions, Aqua for All colleagues will contribute to several discussions throughout World Water Week. 

23 August 

Can Tailored Financial Models Crowd Private Investment into Rural Water?, Aguaconsult
Panellist: Prateesh Prasad, Impact Manager, Aqua for All 

24 August 

Moving from Basic to Safely Managed WASH: Exploring Blended Finance, BRAC & IRC
Panellist: Tim Evers, Impact & Knowledge Lead 

25 August 

Online session: Climate Risk Assessment: From development to practice, FLUSH & Aqua for All.
Panellist: Annemarie Mastenbroek 

25 August 

Water for People: Advancing the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation 
Speaker: Tim Evers, Impact & Knowledge Lead

27 August 

From Innovation to Impact: Corporates Scaling Water Solutions Convenor: Water Unite
Panellist: Tim Evers, Impact & Knowledge Lead

Resources

Online session: Climate Risk Assessment: From development to practice, FLUSH & Aqua for All

The webinar presentation
The webinar recording

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Launched during London Climate Action Week 2026, the playbook explores how blended finance can help mobilise capital towards the Sustainable Development Goals. W2AF is featured alongside other innovative examples demonstrating how blended finance structures can be used to address development challenges.

Scaling finance for water access

Managed by Incofin Investment Management and initiated in partnership with Danone Communities, W2AF is the first private equity blended finance fund dedicated to scaling businesses focused on water access.

The fund provides growth capital alongside strategic technical assistance to enterprises across the value chain in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. W2AF has so far invested in two companies: Rite Water Solutions in India and Spouts International in Uganda and Rwanda.

In April 2025, Incofin announced the final close of W2AF at €61 million, exceeding its original €50 million target. Catalytic capital for the fund has been provided by Danone, Aqua for All, Impact Fund Denmark, the European Investment Bank and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Alongside its investments, W2AF includes a dedicated Technical Assistance Facility enabled by Aqua for All and Norfund.

Aqua for All’s role is closely connected to our approach to blended finance: using catalytic capital to help address financing barriers and enable more capital to support water and sanitation enterprises. This is central to our ambition to demonstrate financing models that can be replicated and contribute to longer-term market development.

Demonstrated impact

So far, Rite Water’s work has contributed to safe water access for approximately 12.5 million people across around 16,000 villages in India. 

The company is also active in solar-powered water and irrigation solutions. In December 2025, Rite Water installed 2,842 solar water pumps in 30 days as part of a wider initiative in Maharashtra that delivered 45,911 pumps and achieved a Guinness World Record.

Why blended finance matters

With the global Sustainable Development Goals financing gap estimated at trillions of dollars annually, public and philanthropic resources alone cannot meet the scale of investment required. Blended finance can use those resources more efficiently by addressing risks and barriers that otherwise prevent capital from reaching sectors such as water and sanitation. 

The examples included in the UN Global Compact playbook provide practical lessons on how actors across sectors can contribute to this transition. 

We look forward to advancing this work together with our partners, to strengthen sustainable water and sanitation markets.

Download Business-Led Blended Finance: A Practical Playbook and read the W2AF case study on page 78.

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Aqua for All, in partnership with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, is expanding their long-term strategic partnership of the Advancing Water and Sanitation Finance in Ethiopia and Beyond programme.

Over the past several years, the programme has shown that blended finance and technical assistance can unlock commercial finance for households and water and sanitation SMEs. Additionally, the programme’s initial implementation provided wholesale financing to microfinance institutions (MFIs) to expand their water and sanitation lending portfolios. As a result, participating financial institutions are better equipped to develop and deliver dedicated water and sanitation finance products.

Scaling a proven approach of blended finance

Building on these achievements, the continuation of the programme will strengthen the financial infrastructure that enables investment in Ethiopia’s water and sanitation sector. 

Alongside continued support for households and water and sanitation enterprises at different stages of growth, the programme will engage commercial banks, Saving and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) and other financial institutions to pilot innovative blended finance solutions. These financing instruments are designed to mobilise private capital for water utilities and the wider water and sanitation sector. 

Over the next four years, the programme aims to: 

• Expand partnerships with more than 28 financial institutions across Ethiopia. 

• Mobilise significantly more private capital for the water and sanitation sector through blended finance instruments, including various de-risking mechanisms. 

• Support approximately 900 water and sanitation SMEs to access finance and become investment-ready through smart, results-based grants. 

• Pilot innovative financing models for water utilities to improve sustainable service delivery. 

• Provide targeted support to selected growth-stage and emerging large water and sanitation enterprises. 

• Strengthen climate-smart and gender-responsive water and sanitation finance products. 

• Improve access to safe water and sanitation for more than 134,000 people. 

• Generate evidence to support the development of a national water and sanitation credit line and create a model that can be replicated across East Africa. 

By connecting financial institutions, enterprises, water utilities and policymakers, the collaboration represents an important step towards establishing water and sanitation finance as a sustainable and commercially viable asset class in Ethiopia.

Creating the conditions for lasting investment

This initiative reflects Aqua for All’s and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s shared commitment to leveraging private capital, fostering innovation and strengthening market-based solutions that accelerate universal access to safe water and sanitation while contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6. 

The programme will run from June 2026 to May 2030. Throughout this period, Aqua for All and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation will work closely with financial institutions, water and sanitation enterprises, federal government partners, the Amhara Regional Government and its sector institutions, development partners and other key stakeholders to scale innovative financing solutions. 

Ultimately, the ambition in the region moves beyond a single programme. By strengthening Ethiopia’s water and sanitation finance ecosystem, mobilising greater commercial investment, and by expanding access to safe and climate-resilient water and sanitation services, the continued collaboration seeks to generate evidence that can inform policy and support replication across East Africa.

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In total, Aqua for All received 45 applications from a diversity of organisations seeking catalytic investment and/or results-based financing. The applicant pool included both first-time and experienced fund managers operating across developed and emerging markets, largely focused on priority regions such as Sub‑Saharan Africa and Asia, and pursuing blended finance strategies that combine water and sanitation with adjacent sectors to mobilise private capital. 

Following a competitive selection process, Aqua for All selected 4 investment opportunities to pursue, all of which are currently in advanced stages and progressing toward final commitment:  

• A blended finance fund providing debt and equity to early‑ and growth‑stage enterprises addressing water, sanitation, and circular economy challenges in the Global South. 

• A private debt fund in emerging markets offering an innovative KPI-linked product to water enterprises and financial institutions in Africa and Asia.  

• A private debt infrastructure fund investing in climate-resilient infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, with a core focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.  

• A results-based finance facility embedded in a child-lens investing debt fund, designed to incentivise WASH improvements in low-income private schools. 

Collectively, these opportunities have the potential to channel significant capital to the water and sanitation sector across Africa and Asia. Keep an eye on our LinkedIn page for more updates on these impactful initiatives.  

The strong response to the call for applications underlines both the need and the growing momentum for investment vehicles focused on water and sanitation. That is why we launched a new open Call for Applications for fund managers mobilising private capital for water and sanitation, which closed on 31 August 2026.

What we learned  

• Role of catalytic capital. First-time fund managers face a fundamental fundraising paradox: institutional investors seek proven track records before committing capital, but building a track record requires initial capital. Catalytic capital, a form of patient, flexible, and risk-tolerant investment intended to generate positive social and/or environmental impact that would otherwise not be possible, is uniquely positioned to break this cycle. By providing early-stage support, catalytic capital enables fund managers to validate their investment strategy, demonstrate performance, and establish robust governance processes and reporting systems, thereby paving the way for larger-scale institutional investment.  

• Financing gap. Broader shifts in global capital flows are reducing the availability of private capital, particularly for emerging markets and high-impact sectors such as water and sanitation. Global foreign direct investment has declined for two consecutive years, while private market fundraising remains challenging amid higher interest rates, macroeconomic uncertainty, and geopolitical fragmentation. Capital is increasingly concentrated in larger, established funds and lower-risk geographies, leaving smaller and first-time fund managers and underserved markets with greater barriers to access funding. As a result, the role of catalytic investors such as Aqua for All becomes even more critical, but also more challenging, as mobilising private capital requires stronger risk mitigation and deeper engagement to crowd in investment where it is needed most.  

• Multi-sector investment. A mixed sectorial investment strategy may support the risk-return-impact vision of asset allocators, however, in practice, this may dilute the exposure to smaller, thematic sectors like water and sanitation. To ensure that water and sanitation remain a meaningful and measurable priority, clear allocation thresholds and impact targets are needed. This helps safeguard intentionality and accountability while ensuring that investments deliver tangible contributions to SDG 6 while remaining attractive within diversified impact strategies.  

• Blended finance. Local investment professionals have the intricate market knowledge, networks, and proximity needed to identify and support high-potential enterprises. However, many remain underserved by capital due to perceived risk, misaligned return expectations, and structural constraints that limit LP participation in subscale or emerging-market funds. Blended finance can help bridge this gap by strategically deploying concessional capital from public or philanthropic sources to de-risk investments and improve their risk-return profile. By absorbing early-stage or perceived risks, blended finance can mobilize additional private investment at scale and enable financing solutions in markets and sectors that would otherwise remain underserved. 

About Aqua for All 

Aqua for All is an international foundation driving universal access to safe, inclusive, and affordable water and sanitation. 

We mobilise private capital and strengthen local enterprises throughout Africa and Asia. 

We invest in private funds to catalyse additional capital into the water and sanitation sector, de-risk financial institutions, and support SMEs through smart grants to achieve lasting system-level impact. 

Together with fund managers, financial institutions and entrepreneurs, we transform the water and sanitation sector. 

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Water and sanitation entrepreneurs are on the frontline of delivering safe, reliable and affordable water and sanitation services, often in markets shaped by tight margins, complex regulation and climate risk. What determines whether an enterprise can grow from a promising solution to a trusted service provider is not only access to finance, but the capabilities behind the business: the systems, skills, and decisions that turn ambition into delivery.

That’s where capacity building comes in. Whether it’s strengthening (impact) data systems, embedding climate-resilience planning, improving customer insight or reworking a growth strategy, capacity building helps enterprises deliver better services today and build the foundation to scale tomorrow. It also helps entrepreneurs make the most of Impact-Linked Finance (ILF). When incentives reward outcomes, strong operational capacity enables teams to achieve those outcomes consistently and sustain them beyond a funding cycle.

The five capacity-building levers below draw on the lived experience of water and sanitation enterprises and the local technical assistance partners who support them. Together, they show what it takes to turn catalytic finance into lasting, scalable water and sanitation impact.

1. Build a local ecosystem of contextualised expertise

Every water and sanitation market tells its own story, shaped by geography, regulation, culture and customer behaviour. This is why local technical assistance providers often become the quiet heroes of ILF: they speak the language of the problem and the solution.

For Muhammadu (Sungsong) Aboubakr from MDF West Africa, this shift started during a session of the Train-the-Trainer (TtT) programme focused on impact measurement and management (IMM). He recalls: “The IMM TtT programme didn’t just add to my knowledge — it completely reshaped how I approach impact measurement… It offered a practical, step-by-step framework that connects real-world challenges to measurable outcomes.”

As he moved into the Investment Readiness (IR)-focused TtT programme, the effect gained momentum: “The IR TtT programme… enhanced our ability to guide businesses in aligning their financial strategies with their social and environmental goals.”

Each trained expert becomes a multiplier, someone who not only supports enterprises but strengthens the advisory ecosystem around them. Over time, these local experts form something powerful: an impact business support ecosystem that stays rooted locally, even after external funding cycles end.

2. Co-design technical assistance to fit context, needs and buy-in

ILF works best when enterprises aren’t ‘passive’ recipients of technical assistance; they’re co-creators of it. This is especially true for flexible ILF instruments like Social Impact Incentives (SIINC), where alignment and buy-in can make or break success.

For example, at TapEffect, co-designed technical assistance (TA) emerged as a key enabler of the systems and capacities required to deliver impact, while strengthening its investment profile.

As TapEffect’s CEO, Nick Boerema, recalls: “Through the TA support, we clarified the impact we measure, improved our data collection processes, and established indicators for the Impact-Linked Finance structure. This helped position TapEffect to secure a $500k debt facility.”

When technical assistance addresses genuine operational gaps (such as customer insight tools or IMM tools), enterprises take the wheel. Co-design stops technical assistance from being just a methodology and turns it into a source of momentum.

3. Move from impact reporting to operational IMM

One of the most transformative shifts we see in ILF-enabled support is when enterprises stop treating impact as a reporting requirement or a tick-box exercise and instead start using impact data and insights to drive commercial decisions. From ‘prove’ to ‘improve’.

That pivot often happens in Bootcamp-style IMM programmes. For Water Access Rwanda, the realisation was immediate: “The Bootcamp helped us to understand that it’s important to establish priority outcomes and indicators, aligning them with impact and commercial performance.”

Practicality became the catalyst for Big Five Africa (Purity N. Kinyua): “The training module on Data Collection, particularly the use of proxy indicators and the customer touchpoint approach, shifted my thinking from traditional, high-cost data gathering to more efficient strategies embedded directly into enterprise operations.”

When IMM becomes usable rather than burdensome, it strengthens products, business processes, partnerships and the credibility behind impact-linked incentives.”

4. Apply a funnel approach: strategic technical assistance linked to an enterprise’s growth stage

Every enterprise is on its own journey. Technical assistance becomes most effective when it recognises those stages and serves them deliberately through a structured funnel that builds foundations first, then sophistication.

Aqua for All’s Foundational Support Programme also illustrates this well.

For example, Aljuli Engineering experienced the clarity that comes from getting the fundamentals right: “We are now better able to identify with clarity our customers and what our products do to change their lives.”

Building on this, Aminata Diewo Gueye from West Africa Water experienced how technical assistance was directly linked to the enterprise’s core: “The Theory of Change, the impact statement, and the Mwater tool… allowed us to structure our impact approach in a clear, measurable way, fully aligned with our operational objectives, and strengthening our ability to plan strategically.”

A sequenced approach does more than build skills, it creates a pipeline of ILF-ready enterprises, grounded in strategy, confident in their data and prepared for investment.

5. Share what works and replicate best practices

Capacity building becomes powerful when it travels. When tools, methodologies and lessons learned start circulating in an accessible and digestible way, risk drops, momentum rises and a shared language of impact emerges.

One standout example is the “Impact Revenue Matrix” (a tool used in the ILF- Bootcamp). For Tilmann Straub from WeTu (We Water), it sparked a shift in strategic thinking: “This helped us develop a strategy to scale our business towards sustainability — generating more impact as well as more revenue.”

Intermediaries like Intellecap play a pivotal role here, participating in repeated TtT programmes and opening access to toolkits that allow best practices move across borders and markets.

Replication isn’t about copying. It’s about accelerating. It builds coherence, investor confidence and alignment across the ILF ecosystem.

Do these five capacity-building levers resonate with you? Learn how Impact-Linked Finance can help your enterprise’s growth. Get in touch today at info@aquaforall.org.

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The Ethiopia Five-Year Programme marks a shift from isolated interventions towards building a thriving water and sanitation ecosystem, recognising that long-term access depends on enabling local markets and financial systems to function effectively, not solely on infrastructure delivery. Transforming the Ethiopian water and sanitation ecosystem requires strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), improving supply and distribution chains, mobilising private capital and reinforcing collaboration between public institutions, private sector actors and community-based organisations.

The programme promotes a system-building model centred on five strategic levers:

• Mobilising private actors: Engaging businesses and entrepreneurs to provide and maintain sustainable and affordable water and sanitation services.
• Structuring for investment and deploying blended finance to crowd in local capital, de-risking lenders, building water and sanitation lending products and aggregating pipelines into bankable portfolios with clear financial returns and measurable social impact.
• Innovation: Using technologies, such as solar-powered chlorination systems and digital credit, to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
• Scalability by design: Ensuring every intervention is designed for replication and national expansion.
• Enabling environment: Collaborating with regional bureaus to enhance regulations and institutions so local water and sanitation entrepreneurs can grow and attract private investment from banks, MFIs and financial saving and credit cooperative organisations (SACCOs).

The role of blended finance

A central feature is the use of blended finance mechanisms, like Aqua for All’s Revolving Credit Facility (RCF), which was designed to demonstrate the viability of water and sanitation lending unlock private investment and expand access to improved water and sanitation services for at least 86,500 people by 2029. Established in partnership with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the facility will deploy EUR 1 million in grant funding to mobilise EUR 3 million in private capital. The revolving structure is expected to further increase total capital mobilised to EUR 4.5–5 million over four years.

By combining grant funding with private capital, the RCF reduces risk for financial institutions and improves liquidity for microfinance providers and enterprises. This, in turn, enables more accessible and affordable financing for water and sanitation solutions at household, utility and MSME levels, while laying the foundation for increased domestic capital mobilisation over time.

Ethiopia’s water and sanitation sector continues to face structural underinvestment, especially in Amhara. The programme responds by introducing tailored financial instruments and market-building interventions that can crowd in domestic capital, strengthen the investment environment and support the gradual transition towards a more self-sustaining water and sanitation market.

Building on a proven model in Amhara

The programme builds on nearly a decade of experience in the Amhara Region, where Aqua for All has championed a market-based approach since 2017. What began as a focused effort to introduce affordable household water filters has evolved into a robust proof of concept for the entire country. Market-based solutions are not only viable but preferred by underserved communities, demonstrating that households are willing to invest in their own health when services are affordable, accessible and reliable.

Central to this success was the strategic transition of implementation responsibilities. Rather than remaining a donor-led project, the programme successfully shifted ownership to a local Project Management Unit hosted by the Association of Amhara Town Water Utilities (AATWU) and the Cooperative Promotion Authority. This ensured that distribution channels, ranging from water utilities to agricultural cooperatives, remained active after direct funding ceased.

This model has distributed over 66,000 water filters and benefited more than 330,000 people in Amhara. These results informed the 2026–2030 strategy: local institutional ownership drives sustainability, integrating financial mechanisms into service delivery enables scale and achieving sustainable impact requires developing markets by strengthening supply chains, distribution, and local businesses beyond project-based efforts.

Strengthening stakeholder alignment and collaboration

The Ethiopia Five-Year Programme (2026–2030) was officially launched in Amhara on 13 March 2026. The event convened around 60 high-level stakeholders from government, financial institutions, cooperatives, the private sector, academia and development partners to align stakeholders around the programme’s objectives and reinforce collaboration for implementation.

Discussions confirmed strong alignment with the programme’s direction. Governmental institutions emphasised the importance of policy coherence, regulatory support and stronger coordination mechanisms. To date, Aqua for All has signed agreements with the Amhara Regional State Water and Energy Bureau, the Amhara Regional State Health Bureau, the Amhara Regional State Bureau of Finance, and the Amhara Regional State Cooperative Promotion Commission to ensure coordination, alignment and support.

Financial institutions expressed interest in expanding financing for the sector, while highlighting the need for risk mitigation tools and tailored financial products, which are directly addressed by the programme’s blended finance approach.

Cooperatives were recognised as critical last-mile distribution channels and trusted community-level financial actors, while enterprises highlighted ongoing challenges related to access to finance, supply chains, and market entry. These insights reinforce the programme’s focus on strengthening MSMEs and improving market linkages. Academia pointed to the need for stronger evidence-based planning and improved public–private partnership models, further underlining the importance of system-wide coordination.

A consistent theme was the critical role of integrating service delivery systems and financial mechanisms to advance safe water and sanitation access. This includes enabling household-level financing for water connections and related infrastructure, as well as establishing a credit facility that provides blended, concessional yet market-oriented finance. Such a facility would help address liquidity constraints faced by household loan providers, while also extending direct financing to utilities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other implementing institutions across the water and sanitation value chain.

A compelling opportunity for investment

The programme places strong emphasis on strengthening the wider ecosystem, with a focus on energy efficiency, reduction of non-revenue water (NRW) and the role of Nature-Based Solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation in long-term water security. By combining financial innovation with local institutional strength, it aims to unlock public and private capital while embedding long-term ownership.

For donors, the programme offers a platform to strengthen Aqua for All’s catalytic role while delivering scalable, system-wide impact across the water and sanitation ecosystem.

Beyond establishing a blended finance facility and unlocking private capital, the programme aims to strengthen the investment case for water and sanitation in Ethiopia, aligned with EU and development cooperation priorities such as the green transition, resilient infrastructure and private sector mobilisation. A key focus is generating evidence to inform public financing strategies and demonstrate sector viability to institutions, such as the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) and the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE). This will support the development of dedicated credit lines with potential to attract additional international funding, including from Development Finance Institutions and impact investors over time.

In parallel, the programme contributes to a stronger enabling environment by producing robust data, evidence and a track record through its joint work with the Hilton Foundation on water and sanitation financing. While not directly engaged in policy advocacy, this evidence base helps inform sector dialogue and policy discussions, while increasing support for mechanisms that incentivise commercial bank lending to priority sectors, such as water and sanitation, contributing to systemic impact and long-term sustainability.

For investors, the programme presents a clear opportunity to catalyse systemic change. Strategic early investment can help de-risk the sector, strengthen financial ecosystems and mobilise significantly larger flows of domestic capital over time, while also supporting enterprises critical to service delivery, last-mile distribution, and innovation across the value chain.

With Ethiopia’s population expected to double by 2060, scalable and financially resilient solutions are urgently needed. Aqua for All’s Amhara programme aims to provide a scalable, replicable and practice-oriented model for expanding safe water access, while simultaneously building the financial, market development and institutional systems required to sustain it.

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When Nick Boerema first encountered Cambodia’s rural water sector in 2017, he was struck not only by limited access, but by the lack of systems able to sustainably connect entire communities, including households, schools and health facilities. Many existing systems were fragmented, underused, or not financially viable at scale.

This challenge led to the creation of Tap Effect, a technology-driven developer and operator of distributed rural water utilities. The company manages decentralised systems that serve households, schools and clinics, focusing on improving reliability, efficiency and financial performance through standardised operations.

At the heart of Tap Effect’s approach is a “utility-as-a-platform” model: operating its own systems while continuously refining service delivery through real-time community feedback. This enables the company to test and improve solutions directly within its infrastructure and scale what works. An in-house IoT system allows remote monitoring and automation of water treatment plants, supporting real-time decision-making and enabling multiple systems to be managed as a single portfolio.

However, scaling rural water access also depends on finance. Blended finance and innovative instruments such as Impact-Linked finance are essential to overcome the barriers in reaching last-mile households.

Rewarding impact, expanding rural water access

In 2024, Aqua for All provided Social Impact Incentives (SIINC) to reward Tap Effect’s measurable outcomes such as faster household connections, increased bathroom connections and improved access for lower-income (ID poor) households.

Thanks to the SIINC, Tap Effect has accelerated access to safe piped water in rural Cambodia, while also strengthening its data systems and investor readiness through clearer, time-bound impact measurement.

Looking ahead, Tap Effect aims to demonstrate that rural water utilities can be both inclusive and financially sustainable at scale, shifting from single-site projects to portfolio-based investment models that enable faster replication.

Read the interview and transaction snapshot to explore how Impact-Linked Finance can support technology and utility operations to scale last-mile water access with greater impact.

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