New research from DeReCK shows that labelled microcredit loans can increase adoption of safe toilets in India.
Dr Bansi Malde and Professor Zaki Wahhaj were part of a team of researchers studying the effects of providing microcredit loans labelled for sanitation on toilet uptake and usage among the households of female microfinance clients in rural India.
The piece published in VoxDev gives a summary of two recently published articles from the project. In the first article, Dr Bansi Malde and her co-authors show that the labelled sanitation loans increased the take-up and usage of safe toilets, though not all loans were converted to a toilet. In the second article, Dr Bansi Malde, Professor Zaki Wahhaj and their co-authors show that both loan take-up and conversion are influenced by intrahousehold gender differences in perceptions about the costs and benefits of toilets and bargaining power.
‘Gender differences in the perceptions of the costs and benefits of toilets within the household affect the success of the sanitation loan. Households where the woman perceives a higher benefit of a toilet are more likely to take the sanitation loan. However, loans are converted to toilets only in households where the woman perceives a lower monetary cost of the toilet than the man. Moreover, we see these effects only in households where the woman has some say in decisions.’ Dr Bansi Malde.
Read the full VoxDev piece here.