Azure Source Capital provides affordable debt financing to water service providers located in underserved populations in Latin America, providing them with the necessary capital to improve the access and quality of safe drinking water and sanitation services for their users.
The Azure Initiative is a blended finance approach that includes two prongs of assistance working in tandem to expand and enhance water systems in underserved communities in Latin America, starting in El Salvador and Honduras.
Azure Source Capital (ASC), established in 2019 by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Inter-American Development Bank Lab (IDB Lab), is the impact investment vehicle that raises and mobilizes private capital to fund loans for water systems identified by its partners. Since inception, the fund has disbursed nearly $9 million, in loans to water systems alongside technical assistance, which has gone to twenty-two separate water systems serving over 230,000 people. Working in tandem with ASC is the Azure Initiative’s technical services partnership, which is comprised of Catholic Relief Services’ in-country teams and local water and sanitation system experts, and is funded by grant capital.
This partnership focuses on identifying and screening projects in need of WASH enhancements and providing technical expertise in the form of engineering studies, design of the water centres, pricing estimates, community engagement, developing and implementing IT services, among other technical tasks.