Financing Solar-Powered Drip Irrigation Through Intergenerational Self-Help Community Groups

As part of their Master in International Affairs at the Geneva Graduate Institute and Prof. Nathan Sussman’s course EI106 on “Finance, Development, and Inclusion”, Alisa Gessler and Vincent Gstettenbauer analysed how farmer communities’ collective action is crucial to financing sustainable irrigation.

The project focuses on bridging the gap from impact to return in the field of blended finance for solar drip irrigation and proposes a shift from pure donations to equity.

Their research shows that a combination of official development assistance in the form of equity with pension funds and foundations could significantly leverage substantial amounts of capital from public and private investors from the Global North to the Global South.

Also, since existing government subsidies do not suffice for small and medium agricultural businesses, and since existing loan schemes bear the threat of leading to debt and expropriation spirals, they found out that integrated approaches like self-set measures of success and deadlines or legal assistance for the community project can break this vicious circle.
 

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Read Alisa and Vincent's full research paper and executive summary below