The «United for Water and Sanitation» Forum, organized by the Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation (Ministerio de Vivienda, Construcción y Saneamiento, MVCS) in collaboration with national and regional authorities, as well as various technical, political, and social stakeholders, took place on September 7th and 8th. The forum brought together several international experts to promote a national agreement on water and sanitation in Peru and discuss global water perspectives, advances and challenges in water and sanitation services, sustainability, and improvement opportunities.

The forum´s ultimate goal was to reach a consensus and develop proposals that would set the roadmap for implementing future actions and commitments to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. This aimed to foster dialogue and collaboration among all stakeholders in the sector. Over 800 attendees (both in-person and virtual) and 40 national and international experts delivered various presentations on the challenges facing Peru and the world in ensuring the sustainability of water resources in the context of climate change.

Within this context, the Sustainable and Innovative Water and Sanitation Services in Rural Areas initiative (Servicios Sostenibles e Innovadores de Agua y Saneamiento en Zonas Rurales, SIRWASH) was presented by Cesarina Quintana, Latin America and the Caribbean Coordinator of the SIRWASH-IDB Program. The initiative, supported by the Swiss Cooperation COSUDE and implemented by the Inter-American Development Bank, seeks to enhance the environment for policies, innovation, and knowledge exchange, and strengthen the capacities necessary to provide sustainable and quality water, sanitation, and hygiene services to rural communities, with a particular focus on vulnerable and underserved populations.

«Providing sustainable water and sanitation to rural areas is no easy task,» said Cesarina Quintana, coordinator of the SIRWASH Program at the IDB. She emphasized that numerous local, regional, and national actors are involved in delivering an efficient and long-lasting solution to the most remote regions of the country.

In her presentation at the United for Water and Sanitation Forum, the specialist pointed out that this network constitutes a model of «governance of rural water and sanitation» in Peru, which entails many challenges at all levels of government and community organization.

Among the most noteworthy data shared were advances in rural water and sanitation interventions, which range from greater cultural diversity and the application of a comprehensive approach to the implementation of executing cores and an information system for basic services known as DATASS (Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Diagnostic System). She also analysed the characteristics of successful rural water and sanitation models, which include integration, a long-term vision, sectoral coordination, adaptable technology, effective municipal technical areas, community organization commitment, specialized training, impact scale, systematic formula, and sustainability. The expert stressed the importance of professionalizing rural water and sanitation services with efficient investment and quality, targeted investment in vulnerable areas, digitalization, micrometre measurement, collaboration formalization incentives, capacity strengthening, certification of competencies, and the involvement of young professionals.

Regarding challenges, Quintana mentioned that providing water and sanitation in non-urban areas requires advancing the formalization of the Boards of Directors of Sanitation Services (Juntas Administradoras de los Servicios de Saneamiento, JASS), reducing staff turnover, promoting incentives to work in the sector, and deepening management models associated with rural governance. At the end of her presentation, she highlighted the telemetry program provided by Swiss Cooperation COSUDE and the Inter-American Development Bank as a valuable tool for digitalization and shared the experiences of the SIRWASH program for exchange and collaboration in Latin America.

Source: Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation

Related news:

Note The Perspective of SIRWASH:  Meeting the demands of rural water and sanitation

Useful links:
Fact Sheet SIRWASH Servicios Sostenibles e Innovadores de Agua, Saneamiento e Higiene en zonas rurales
Fact Sheet SIRWASH – BID