Azure is a global combined financing initiative led by our member, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), to expand and rehabilitate water supply services in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Azure is a global blended finance initiative led by our member, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), to expand and rehabilitate water supply services in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Over the last decades, donors, governments, and philanthropic organizations have supported water and sanitation infrastructure construction mainly through heavily subsidized financing. This conventional development approach succeeded in expanding water and sanitation infrastructure but failed to enable sustainable water services.

The Azure model in action

CRS and the Inter-American Development Bank established an impact investment capital fund, seeking financial return and social and environmental impact: Azure Source Capital. As part of the search for financing sources, the Water Security Trust, FIDEAGUA, was born.

Azure combines technical expertise with impact investment to enhance and expand water services for small rural and urban communities in Latin America, through technical and financial assistance.

The initiative demonstrates that local service providers, including private companies and non-profit organizations, can effectively provide technical assistance tasks and support financial structuring, business processes, and logistical resources to serve multiple water service providers and improve water service sustainability.

See video

Impact

• The Azure Initiative has reached 217,901 beneficiaries, translating to 60,028 households.
• Additionally, 323 water and sanitation operators have been worked with.
• Water and sanitation operators, serving over 900 thousand people, received technical services.
• Coinvestment mobilized (includes local, municipal, cooperation, loans) USD $13.1M

For more information on the impact of the Azure model in the communities served, visit the website www.azurewater.org.