10 lessons learned from the SABA Rural Water and Sanitation Model, a contribution from the Global Water Programme of Swiss Cooperation in Latin America.

More than 20 years have passed since Swiss Cooperation decided to support the efforts of a group of Peruvian partners to face this great challenge. The result was the joint formulation of the Comprehensive Rural Basic Sanitation Project Model (SABA). To date, in Peru alone, two million people have benefited from this project.

Experts agree that the lack of water and basic sanitation in rural areas is not only a matter of public health, but the visible expression of the country’s profound inequality and one of the reasons for the persistent poverty of the most vulnerable rural inhabitants. How can we ensure that families living far from cities, scattered in villages, hamlets and ranches in the highlands, jungles and coasts of Peru, have safe drinking water connections, healthy housing and reliable drainage systems? How can we convince the authorities that improving access to water and sanitation should be considered a political priority at all levels of government? And finally, how can we ensure that the new systems are sustainable over time?

This publication addresses 10 key lessons learned from the SABA project that will let us learn about the history of the Model, how it worked, the outcomes, the coverage it achieved in Peru and its initial expansion to other countries in and beyond Latin America.

You can download the publication from this link enlace.