How might we use market-based approaches to expand water and sanitation solutions among low income households in India?

The vast majority of the Indian population lives on less than US$5 a day. Think of this as a design constraint when designing water and sanitation solutions. We believe we can think beyond charity and better leverage the funds of households and capacities of markets to innovate and offer low-cost effective solutions. Solutions that involve financial tools such as micro loans, installment payments, vendor financing, loan guarantees and other base of pyramid approaches are ones we see with high potential for impact.

Solutions should:

• Operate in India (cater to India's unique culture, beliefs, delivery systems, infrastructure, etc)
• Reach critical mass (potential in the medium-term to have a sizeable impact)
• Address drinking water or sanitation (specifically address drinking water or sanitation)
• Have a market-based approach (does not rely on charity)
• Be cost-effective
• Be sustainable
• Consider scale (can reach millions of households)
• Involve non-financial organisations (solutions should not be based on financial organisations like banks or microfinancing)