** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcredit Microcredit], is a very small loan extended by a bank or other financial organisations that provide services to poor households (Saywell and Fonseca, 2006).
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surety Guarantee], a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. The person or company that provides this promise, is also known as a surety or guarantor.
Some sources do not include loans as part of transfers as the borrower is obligated to pay back or repay an amount of money to the lender at a later time (EUREAU, 2012).
====Oversees Development Assistance (ODA)====
Transfers include official development assistance (ODA). Ideally official development assistance should be seen as part of taxes and not transfers. Aid policies suggest more aid be delivered in the form of budget support, which implies that they would be disbursed in much the same way as national public budget resources (OECD, 2009). Official development assistance is usually seen as part of transfers, as donors are still disbursing most of their aid through projects and programmes, rather than through recipient country budget processes. Another important feature that distinguishes official development assistance from taxes is that they are levied in foreign countries, rather than nationally, and the political and administrative process of securing ODA resources is very different from taxes (OECD, 2009).
In many developing countries, transfers remain a major source of financing for sanitation and drinking-water, mostly for [[Capital_Expenditure_(CapEx)|capital expenditure]] (WHO and UN-Water, 2012). Over US$ 8.9 billion in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_development_assistance official development assistance (ODA)] (part of transfers) was directed to sanitation and drinking-water in 2009 (WHO and UN-Water, 2012). Official development assistance for sanitation and drinking-water accounts for more than 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in seven developing countries (see table 1).
==Key documents==
* Carbon credits: potential source of funding for wastewater treatment projects, [http://www.source.irc.nl/page/48222 E-Source], 19 May 2009
* EUREAU, 2012. [http://celinehervebazin.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/eureau-3ts-short-guide-version-internet.pdf ‘3Ts’ Tariffs, taxes and transfers in the European water sector]. Short guide.
* OECD, 2010. Civil society and aid effectiveness: Findings, recommendations and good practice. Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development/ Development Assistance Committee
* Pezon, C., Fonseca, C. and Butterworth, J., 2010. [http://www.irc.nl/content/download/152801/519929/file/02_Background_Paper_zw.pdf IRC Symposium 2010 Pumps, Pipes and Promises. Background paper: pumps, pipes and promises. Costs, finances and accountability for sustainable WASH services]. The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.
* Saywell, D. and Fonseca, C., 2006. [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/fact-sheets/fact-sheets-htm/mcfs.htm Microfinance for Sanitation]. WELL factsheet. Loughborough: WELL/WEDC- Water, Engineering and Development Centre, Loughborough University of Technology.
* Sijbesma, C., 2011. [http://www.irc.nl/home/information_services/publications/publications_by_date/sanitation_financing_models_for_the_urban_poor Sanitation Financing models for the urban poor]. Thematic Overview Paper 25. The Hague: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (Published November 2011).
* OECD, 2009. [http://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/sustainable-agriculture/44476961.pdf Setting the stage. Managing Water for All: An OECD perspective on pricing and financing.] ISBN-978-92-64-05033-4
* Verhoeven, J., Uytewaal, E. and de la Harpe, J., 2011. [http://www.irc.nl/home/information_services/publications/publications_by_date/aid_effectiveness_in_the_water_and_sanitation_sector Aid effectiveness in the water and sanitation sector: policies, practices and perspectives]. (Thematic Overview Paper 26) The Hague: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.
* Water Institute, 2012. Carbon credits and HWTS: a viable "green" funding mechanism? Webinar, 17 July 2012. Chapel Hill, NC, USA, The Water Institute, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill