Colombia: testing innovative models for rural water and sanitation services
Photo: IRC
NGO «Give to Colombia» will implement several pilot projects that will serve as models for the Rural Water Supply and Wastewater Management Program in Colombia. This large-scale programme is financed with the help of a US$ 60 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The pilot projects have four components:
- School water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (SWASH), which will implement and evaluate UNICEF’s model for SWASH interventions in at least 25 rural public schools
- Post-construction support and the sustainability of rural water projects with a focus on innovative financial models
- Sustainable models for the financing and provision of household connections
- Sustainable self-supply models for disperse rural communities
The AquaFund and Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction are financing the pilot projects. Contributors to the Aquafund are IDB, the governments of Switzerland and Austria, and the PepsiCo Foundation.
The pilot projects will cost about US$ 2.1 million. The implementing agency Give to Colombia (G2C) receives resources from the Embassy of Japan and the General Electric Foundation. PepsiCo Colombia is supporting the dissemination of the innovative models being developed in the projects.
In 2011, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and CINARA carried out a study on behalf of IDB, about post-construction support on rural water supply services in Colombia [1]. The study [2] shows that those service providers that receive more structured support perform better.
[1] IADB publishes report on post-construction support on rural water supply services in Colombia, IRC, 21 Aug 2012 ; Webinar – Impacts of post-construction support on the performance of rural water supply in Colombia, IRC,
[2] Smits, S. et al., 2012. Gobernanza y sostenibilidad de los sistemas de agua potable y saneamiento rurales en Colombia. (Monografia; IDB-MG-133). [online] Washington, DC, USA: Inter-American Development Bank. Available at: <http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=36986189>
Related websites:
- IDB – Rural Water Supply and Wastewater Management Program (CO-L1105)
- IDB – AquaFund
- Give to Colombia (G2C)
- IRC – Triple-S/Water services that last – Colombia
Source: Latin American Herald Tribune, 10 Oct 2012 ; IDB, 02 Oct 2012
IDB and FEMSA Foundation award Water and Sanitation Prize to innovative service operators
Service operators and public officials from Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil and Colombia were recognized for innovative contributions to water and sanitation by the Inter-American Development Bank and FEMSA Foundation during the 2010 World Water Week congress in Stockholm.
Federico Basañes, chief the IDB’s Water and Sanitation Division, and Genaro Borrego Estrada, Director of Corporate Affairs for FEMSA, awarded the second edition of the Water and Sanitation Prize, which was inaugurated [in 2009] with the goal of recognizing outstanding contributions to the challenge of providing sustainable and accessible water and sanitation services in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Servicios de Agua y Drenaje de Monterrey, Mexico, received the award for water management in recognition of its successful strategy to voluntarily reduce consumption and encourage conservation of water over the last 20 years.
The Government of the State of Amazonas, Brazil, received the award for sanitation management in recognition of the results of the Programa Socioambiental dos Igarapés de Manaus (PROSAMIM), which implemented an integrated solution to water, sanitation and housing problems in low-income communities in the city of Manaos.
Aguas de Cartagena, Colombia, received a special mention for its success in the commercial management of accounts in low-income districts.
Empresa Nicaraguense de Aqueductos y Alcantarillados (ENACAL)also received a special mention for the construction and operation of a waste-water treatment plant in the city of Managua.
Representatives from each of the four awardees gave presentations describing the recognized project or initiative as part of “Latin America Day” at World Water Week, considered the largest international congress specializing in this sector.
The winners, as well as the recipients of special mentions, will receive scholarships financed by the FEMSA Foundation [to] send water and sanitation professionals to the Centro del Agua para América Latina y el Caribe (CAALCA), a specialized training and research institution jointly created by the IDB, FEMSA and Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Source: IDB, 07 Sep 2010
Colombia: DNP taking steps to prevent municipal water shortage by 2025
Colombia’s national planning department (DNP) will work with municipal governments to draw up a contingency plan to prevent a severe municipal water shortage by 2025, according to the government’s 2019 development vision.
Read full article one: BNamericas, [subscription site], 26 July 2010
Colombia: Uribe appoints new environment, housing, territorial development minister
Carlos Costa. Photo: Cesar Carrión - SP
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has appointed Carlos Costa Posada as the country’s new environment, housing and territorial development minister. A former consultant to the World Bank’s Latin American and Caribbean water and urban development unit, Costa replaces Juan Lozano, who served as minister between July 2006 and March of this year. Costa’s areas of expertise include environmental management, disaster risk and climate change management.
Source: BNamericas [subscription site], 06 Apr 2009 ; Ministerio de ambiente, vivienda y desarrollo territorial, 06 Apr 2009
Colombia: IDB approves US$250mn for water programs
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$1.3bn loan to Colombia aimed at infrastructure works, as well as soothing the effects of the global economic crisis in the country. [This includes] US$250mn [for] water programs [in the form of] rapid disbursement loans. Potable water and sanitation programs for Pasto, the capital of Nariño department, will receive US$27mn; the Medellín river remediation program US$27mn.
Source: Jorge Porter, BNamericas [subscription site] 27 Mar 2009
Noticias sobre WASH para América Latina 