These slides were presented in Dar Es Salaam in December 2013 at a workshop gathering microfinance institutions, NGOs and actors of the sanitation sector. They present the activities that will be undertaken as part of a one-year action research funded by SHARE and WaterAid.

1. 1
DEVELOPING SANITATION
MICROFINANCE IN TANZANIA
PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND
ORGANISATION

2. Approach to the project
2
A collaborative “action-research” project to:
 Stimulate the interest of existing financial
institutions so that they start offering tailored
microfinance products for sanitation
 Strengthen the capacity of NGOs already
offering sanitation microfinance
 Develop, test and disseminate lessons on
sanitation microfinance, generated through the
project and via further ongoing activities if
there is up-take

3. Underlying assumptions




Sanitation microfinance products need to respond to a
clearly identified demand
Developing suitable sanitation microfinance products
requires specific skills and management systems
Rolling out sanitation microfinance requires main
actors (government, support
organisations, donors, MFIs, banks, NGOs) to
incorporate these products into a sector improvement
strategy
Context-specific aspects need to be taken into
account, e.g.:


Developments in the housing finance sector (where microfinance is
also provided for non-income generating activities)
Local dynamics might impact capacity to take on loans (such as

4. Building on the local context
4


Take advantage of the momentum generated
by the launch the NSC – but how?
Seek opportunities to embed sanitation
microfinance in wider financing
programmes, e.g. housing finance, which is
growing



To make it more attractive: “Toilet loans” alone may not be
attractive
To avoid situation where toilets look nicer/ sturdier than house
itself
But this means regulation/enforcement so that houses are
effectively built with facilities – again, how? Discussion for the
Working Group

5. Project Activities – Stage 1
5

Stage 1: preparation of pilot projects (Dec 2013
to Feb-2014)

Establish a sanitation microfinance working group with
interested stakeholders

Select local partners to develop and pilot-test
sanitation financial products, combining micro-credit
with micro-saving as appropriate depending on the
local population’s needs

Deliver training on qualitative market research (both
an in class and field work based) to local partners to
improve their capacity to conduct market research
and develop microfinance products aimed at financing
sanitation facilities and/or services

6. Project Activities – Stage 2
6

Stage 2: Implement pilot projects (Mar-August
2014)
Local partners will carry out small scale qualitative
market research to assess sanitation and hygiene
financing needs in selected/targeted area
 Local partners will develop suitable sanitation financial
products, for households or small-scale providers

Research team will provide on-demand support
to partners at all stages of the implementation
process, to help them address specific issues

7. Activities – Stage 3
7

Stage 3: extracting lessons learned (SeptNov 2014)

Research partners will evaluate the performance of
each pilot project and the impact of facilitating access
to finance on increasing access to sanitation and
hygiene services

Consolidate the knowledge and lessons generated
from the research activities undertaken during this
project with outputs of previous research in an overall
publication to disseminate lessons: report / journal
article

8. Activity schedule
8
Oct-13
Nov-13
Dec-13
Jan-14
Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14
Jun-14
Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14
Stage 1 - Preparation of pilot projects
Activity 1.1. - Establish a sanitation microfinance working group
Identify potential members
Draft Terms of Reference for the Working group
Hold first meeting of the working group in Dar es Salaam
Activity 1.2. - Select local research partners for pilot testing
Solicit interest from potential local research partners (application form and interviews)
Agree on list of local research partners
Activity 1.3. - Deliver training on qualitative market research
Stage 2 - Implementation of pilot projects
Activity 2.1. - Support the research partners to conduct small qualitative market research
Activity 2.2. - Facilitate discussions about product design and pilot project planning
Hold intermediary working group meeting after pilots launch
Activity 2.3. - Support with pilot testing of pilot projects: monitoring performance
Stage 3 - Extracting lessons learned
Activity 3.1. - Support the research partners to evaluate the impact of the pilot projects
Activity 3.2. - Draw overall lessons learned
Hold summary meeting of the sanitation microfinance working group in DES
Key dates:
• Application forms to be submitted by 16th December 2013
• Identification of research partners by end December 2013
• Hands-on training programme delivered between 27th January and mid
February
• Working group meeting to share intermediary lessons in April 2014
• Final WG meeting for overall reflections in November 2014 (at the latest)

9. 9
Working group – proposed setup

Inspired from the Housing Microfinance group in Tanzania

Membership: all institutions interested in how sanitation
microfinance can be used to deliver sustainable services – chair to
be elected from members, simple TORS will be circulated for
approval

Specific objectives


Exchange knowledge and experience on the development of sanitation
microfinance products in Tanzania and elsewhere


Gather stakeholders who might not otherwise meet (e.g. banks and
NGOs)
Act as a focal point on sanitation microfinance in Tanzania for external
parties (e.g. donors, funders, researchers, etc.)
Periodicity of meetings

Minimum 3 meetings during project duration (including today’s meeting)

Frequency could be increased if there is demand

10. Working group – key issues
10



Are some stakeholders interested in hosting working
group sessions (hold meetings in different premises
each time?)
Do we need:
 Rules on handling commercially-confidential
information?
 Rules on sharing results and findings from the
research?
Methods of communication:
Simple email exchanges with dropbox folder?
 Social media: Facebook or Linked-in group?
 Simple website? If so: self-standing website or as


11. Selected research partners
11
Up to 4 selected financial institutions (MFIs, banks or NGOs) will be
action research partners
 Active in urban or rural sanitation, products targeting households or
small businesses, with prior experience in either
sanitation, microfinance, or both
 Local partners will be provided with technical assistance for:


On-call support for product marketing and roll-out


Training on market research and product development tailored to the sanitation
markets
Performance monitoring on product penetration and impacts
Local partners will be expected to contribute:

Up to two specialised staff to take part in training, prepare market assessment
and product development report for their institution and take on the subsequent
rolling-out of designed products

Travel and accommodation costs during training

Capital for lending schemes

12. Market Research for
Microfinance
Course Outline
Day 1-3 Overview of Product Development and Market Research
(Classroom-Based Course)
• Overview of Product Development and Market Research
• Background to Market Research for Microfinance Institutions
• Product Development Cycle
• Introduction to Market Research
• Focus Group Discussions
• Group Moderation
• Analyzing and Presenting FGD Results
• Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA)
• Analyzing PRA Results
Days 4-10 FGDs and PRA exercises and Analysis (Field Days)
Day 11 Concept/Prototype Development
Day 12 Prototype Testing, Pilot-Testing and Planning

13. Product Development Process
• One institution is expected to be the ‘host’ [we will need volunteers]
• During training field days, participants will conduct a research for host
institution
• The participants with the assistance of MicroSave will develop a need
assessment report and product concept for the institution
Every institution is then expected to
develop a research plan that include
research issue, objectives and research
methods at the end of the training as a
take home
• MicroSave will provide technical support to selected institutions:
• Implement research plan
• Produce individual reports and concepts
• Refine and test the concepts to product prototypes
• Testing the prototypes

14. Approach to partner selection
14
 Application

form to facilitate selection
Size of the organisation, lending portfolio, prior experience in
microfinance, reasons for requesting training
 Demonstrate



commitment:
For the training: ability to mobilise staff and days to develop “product
concepts”
After training, selection of 2 institutions to turn these concepts into
prototypes for pilot testing based on “readiness” to move to
implementation
Other institutions having participated to the training will receive on-call
support

15. In summary: project outputs
15




Sanitation Microfinance WG: Terms of
Reference, collation of relevant background
documents, communication tool
Market research report for each of the local
research partners (i.e. MFI, commercial bank or
NGO)
Evaluation reports of the pilot projects for each of
the local research partners
An overall report extracting lessons learned from
this project and previous microfinance research
work which could later be turned into a journal
article if deemed appropriate.

16. 16
Team
sophie@tremolet.com
goufrane@tremolet.com
mugweru@microsave.net
muruka@microsave.net