Association of community based organisations in Colombia

Year of publication: 2000

Both the Colombian National Constitution and the Public Household Utilities Law granted communities of the right to manage their own water supply and sanitation systems. According to estimates, there are over 25,000 organizations that run these systems in Colombia, including small towns and rural settlements. 80% of these organizations are community-based. Nevertheless, as of 1999 only 1709 organizations of water supply providers - 640 of which were community organizations - were registered with the Superintendence of Public Utilities.

This kind of organization is most commonly found in rural areas, which are faced with a number of deficiencies with regard to compliance with government standards and achievement of high performance and effectiveness levels. The Ministry of Development (2000) acknowledges that the business situation of this sector is worrisome.

A performance evaluation of a sample of water supply and sanitation service providers who meet the needs of 79% of the urban population in Colombia, found that their performance improvement, as well as compliance with their action plan to optimize management, are rather precarious. Managing water supply systems in Colombia has proved to be a difficult task. The most serious problem, however, exists in rural areas and townships.

In an attempt to help overcome this situation, the CINARA Institute at Universidad del Valle in Colombia has been working with CBOs on the establishment of an ?Association of Community-Based Organizations Providing Water Supply and Sanitation Services in South-western Colombia?. This case study presents this experience as one of the major achievements of CINARA´s involvement with the Community Management Project developed by the IRC and six other collaborating institutions from Nepal, Pakistan, Cameroon, Kenya, Guatemala and Colombia.

In the course of the establishment process, it was found that the Association may contribute to the following:

• Strengthening the decentralization process;
• Improving the quality of water supply and sanitation services in rural areas and small towns;
• Achieving sustainable management;
• Generating economies of scale for activities in connection with training, spare part acquisition, project development, etc.;
• Becoming a communication bridge between communities and local, state and national institutions. This involves having access to information, training and procurement of resources;
• Influencing national policies for providing public utility services; and
• Developing an organizational proposal to be reviewed for assessing its relevance and the possibility of implementing it in other countries where similar conditions exist.

Key lessons

From this process the following key lessons emerged:

• Resource Centres may act as catalysts in the community organization processes because, in many cases, community members either have no access to information that allows them to act on their own or, have no opportunities to share their knowledge.
• International donors and local institutions involved in this sector could support these kinds of projects. Nevertheless, so far no strong effort has been made in this regard.
• Transparency has become a key element of these kinds of organizations.
• Communities develop their own capabilities and strengthen their negotiating skills.
• The Association is a space where communities can learn. Its members have different backgrounds, use different organization schemes and use different kinds of technology, therefore, they can learn from each other.