Latin America
The objective of the programme is to contribute substantively to the achievement of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) related MDGs in Latin America, as well as more generally to the provision of sustainable WASH services to the poor and the improved management of local water resources.
IRC's activities in Honduras
IRC support in Honduras has evolved over the years from giving input into knowledge development and sector learning to helping with the formulation of a new WASH policy in 2011 and getting involved in broader sector development. The current focus of the support is on (1) the introduction of the life-cycle costs approach to standardize intervention models and defining financing mechanisms for these costs; (2) the development of a sector monitoring information system and (3) the promotion and enabling of knowledge management and learning in the Honduran WASH sector. IRC collaboration with FHIS, CONASA and RAS-HON has resulted in official agreements.
WASH News Latin America
News feed maintained by information specialists from IRC and partners.
Towards sustainable water services in La Paz, Bolivia
A Dutch-funded project aims to bring piped drinking water to peri-urban neighbourhoods of the Bolivian capital La Paz. What will determine its success? Is it the inhabitants’ willingness and ability to pay for improved water services? No, the biggest threat to the sustainability of the project is the lack of a national sector strategy that clearly outlines how to finance the full costs of service delivery.
Presentation of the first results of the study on life-cycle costs in Honduras
This presentation, prepared by Andres Gil, IRC's documentalist based in Honduras, shares the first results of the study on life-cycle costs in Honduras that was aimed to support the harmonization of different intervention models for WASH in Honduras.
Apples and oranges: a comparative assessment in WASH
Read this interesting blog post by Stef Smits on the costs of water point mapping, in which reference is being made to his current activities to support the roll out of nation-wide monitoring efforts in El Salvador and Honduras. In both countries, there is an initiative to map all water systems (not water points as nearly all are piped schemes) and collect information on the status of these systems, the service delivered and the performance of the service provider, and establish a system for ongoing monitoring of these water systems, so as to better direct post-construction support. These activities are part of the assignment for IADB in which IRC supports the processes of developing monitoring systems in Honduras, Paraguay and El Salvador.
Taking life-cycle costs approach to field-level - Millennium Water Alliance applies concepts through partners in Africa and Latin America
Millennium Water Alliance (MWA) is a champion of the life-cycle costs approach. They, along with partners, are applying the approach in Ethiopia, Kenya, and parts of Latin America to improve monitoring and evaluation of their WASH programmes. IRC’s WASHCost discussed with Susan Dundon of MWA and learned how the organisation is gathering evidence to show how the life-cycle costs approach works or doesn’t work in reality. Read more.
IADB publishes report on post-construction support on rural water supply services in Colombia
Does post-construction support to community-based water providers help to increase the sustainability of rural water supplies? And if it does, what are the most significant aspects of post-construction support providing more effective and efficient support? These questions are analysed in a recent report published by the Inter-American Development Bank.
IRC supports the development of sustainability indicators in Latin America
IADB requested collaboration with IRC in the field of monitoring sustainability of rural WASH services. Specifically, IRC has been asked to support the development of a generic set of indicators for monitoring sustainability of rural WASH services and support in developing institutional arrangements for monitoring in three countries: El Salvador, Honduras and Paraguay.
Webinar - Impacts post-construction support in Colombia
| Post-construction support has often been claimed to improve the provision of rural water supply services. Little quantitative evidence exists on how this works out in practice. IRC and CINARA have studied the impact of post-construction support on both the performance of rural service providers and of the service level that is eventually provided and intended to unravel which support aspects are most relevant in creating impact. On 7 March 2012, the study results were presented in a webinar and a broader discussion on the role of post-construction support on rural water supplies took place. |
Chile, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras & the costs of providing post-construction support
What are the costs to providing post-construction support for rural water services? Working Paper 5, a joint WASHCost and Triple-S publication analyses existing literature on primary cost data from seven countries, among them four cases from Latin America (Chile, Brazil, El Salvador and Honduras).
Research shows that spending less than the norm of US$ 1 per person per year is not enough to ensure reliable service delivery. Service providers and their supporters must be willing to spend more than US$ 2 to US$ 3 per person per year. Read to learn about how to organise and finance post-construction support mechanisms for rural water supply.
