Around 30 % of rural populations in the Caribbean and Latin America are dependent on community-managed water supply and sanitation services.
There are two priorities that are required in order to achieve SDG 6 in the region according to the UN:
- Solving the lack of access in water and sanitation; and
- Achieving the sustainability of community organisations that provide these services in rural areas across the region.
The long-term financial and governance sustainability is by no means assured, and cannot be until the management capacity and technical skills, which are expected to be a low-cost solution that will have great impact, considering the key role these organisations play in delivering critical services to poorer and often more marginalised communities.
The approval of Chile’s new Rural Sanitation Services Law in January 2017 has given new rights and responsibilities to the sector and emphasises the importance of the sector in promoting its own sustainability, with a particular focus on rural sanitation.
The National Federation of Sanitation and Water Services (FESAN) has proposed a National Capacity Building Plan (PNFC) to strengthen the management capacity of community organisations, while still preserving their participative character.
The PNFC will focus on ensuring social equity, with fair and affordable rates for the most disadvantaged sectors of society as well as the social and environmental sustainability of water resources, in compliance with the new norms introduced by the Rural Sanitation Services Law.
It has taken a lot of time as well as learning via trial and error, but community leaders and water operators have eventually just about learned how to deal with these issues. Unfortunately while that model may have been legitimate previously, the new law necessitates a comprehensive training program in order to cope with the level of complexity of the tasks, functions and procedures that must be carried out today.
The training program implemented in 2016-17 as a pilot project has proved very successful in Central Chile with sixty participants from forty rural services, including management and staff. The participation of Universidad de Santiago, will allow the PNFC to be validated academically with the awarding of a Diploma.
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