SDGs Addressed by the Cooperation Fund
Impact on progress towards the 2030 Agenda and compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals
SDGs Addressed by the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation
The work of the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation has an important impact on progress towards the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In relation to SDG6, “Water and Sanitation for All”, the Fund works on all of its targets, and this interacts with many other Goals, acting as a lever to drive their realisation.
Thus, improved drinking water and sanitation services have a direct impact on the health of the population (SDG3), have a huge impact on promoting gender equality (SDG5), are essential for the proper functioning of schools (SDG4) and are essential for building sustainable cities (SDG11).
Furthermore, access to water and sanitation in rural and peri-urban areas contributes to reducing inequalities (SDG 10); joint and adequate management of water resources contributes to peace (SDG 16); and Integrated Water Resources Management (including adequate river basin management) and water purification are essential for a healthy environment and adaptation to climate change (SDG 13).
Finally, the chosen working formula of the Fund, whereby the implementation of programmes is initiated by partner countries, and the networking actions with other organisations are key to fostering partnerships for development (SDG 17). Therefore, the work of the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation to support the achievement of SDG 6 contributes directly to the achievement of the majority of the 2030 Agenda
SDGs in which it impacts
SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
Access to drinking water and sanitation is closely linked to a decrease in poverty levels. Firstly, the need to carry water to households entails a significant expenditure of time that could be spent on other more productive tasks. Secondly, where drinking water is not available, it must be purchased, usually through distribution trucks, which tend to be more expensive and not always of the right quality. The Water Fund works to provide water and sanitation to the most disadvantaged populations, focusing its programmes on rural or peri-urban areas, where the needs are often greatest.
SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages.
The Water Fund’s actions contribute directly to improving people’s health, preventing intestinal or diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera, and reducing the possible transmission of viruses, for which hygiene is essential, as seen with coronavirus. The programmes are often accompanied by awareness-raising campaigns on hygiene and good use of the resource.
SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
For education to be equitable, children must have enough time to attend classes and spend hours studying. Having running water at home facilitates school attendance, as they do not have to spend time fetching water to help their families; it prevents illnesses that prevent school attendance and improves and facilitates pupils’ personal hygiene. For girls and teenage girls, it is also essential to have a private space in schools for menstrual hygiene. This simple action helps prevent the early abandonment of adolescent girls.
SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Making progress on SDG 5 is one of the priorities of Spanish cooperation policy and one of the cross-cutting themes of the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation’s work. Access to safe water and sanitation makes life easier for women, who are the main providers of water and food in families. In addition, all our projects incorporate a gender focus to support the empowerment of women, to promote their presence in senior positions in the Water Boards and their effective participation in decision-making.
In this respect, work is being carried out in three areas: 1) training and incorporation of women into senior management positions; 2) gender mainstreaming in institutional strengthening, improving the legal frameworks of our partner countries to strengthen the water sector and governance in a gender-sensitive way and 3) gender mainstreaming in programmes in a cross-cutting manner and from the beginning of the programmes.
SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
The Fund’s work has a direct impact on SDG 6, addressing all of its targets together: universal access to water and sanitation, improving quality, implementing integrated water resources management, protecting ecosystems, etc. In addition, it works very specifically on the two cross-cutting targets of SDG 6:
6.a: Management capacity-building: Through the Fund’s programmes, the goal is to create capacities that favour the progressive maturation of the water and sanitation sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting the clarification and assignment of competencies and responsibilities at the different territorial levels, the development of institutional and organisational regulatory frameworks and inter-institutional coordination. This line of action is materialised in all of the Fund’s programmes through institutional strengthening and community development components, creating capacities for the management of large programmes through constant and close accompaniment, promoting the use of national contracting procedures and creating technical capacities for the management of services. For capacity-building of water and sanitation operators, twinning and knowledge transfer between Spanish and Latin American providers are being promoted-. It also supports the CODIA Training Programme – promoted by the AECID for more than 20 years – and the capacity-building activities promoted by RALCEA, the Latin American Network of Water Resources Management Knowledge Centres.
6.b Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management. The Fund strengthens the participation of local communities in the design and implementation of projects in order to ensure the sustainability of services, and promotes the involvement of communities in the management of services, sometimes by supporting the creation of water boards and associations of water boards. Numerous training and awareness-raising activities are also carried out in the communities in different areas related to water and sanitation.
SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy.
Goal 7.a aims to “enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technologies, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and advanced and cleaner fossil fuel technologies, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technologies”. In this regard, it is worth highlighting some of the Water Fund’s specific initiatives, such as that carried out in Guatemala to promote the generation of electricity through microturbines. The energy generated is used for pumping and electrical systems, thus reducing the operation and maintenance costs of the systems, which is a key issue for the sustainability of the services. Studies have also been conducted in Colombia and Nicaragua in order to include them in other systems that are being funded by the Fund. Moreover, the use of solar energy to obtain water from the sub-soil by means of a pump was promoted in Honduras, thus reducing the systems’ operation costs:
Innovative and sustainable solutions to obtain water in Honduras
Entre los años 2011 y 2016, con el objetivo de dotar de agua potable a siete de las comunidades más vulnerables del país, se aplicó tecnología de energía solar para obtener el agua del subsuelo mediante bombeo. Así, se benefició a 4486 habitantes en condiciones de pobreza del Corredor Seco, una de las zonas con mayor incidencia de sequías y con los niveles más altos de radiación solar en Honduras.
SDG 10: Reduced inequalities.
The gap in access to water and sanitation is still very large between urban areas and rural or dispersed areas, and the differences widen when it comes to indigenous or Afro-descendant populations.
Therefore, throughout its 13 years of existence, the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation’s projects have targeted the most vulnerable populations, in particular those living in rural areas, peri-urban areas of cities and indigenous communities. This does not only mean that they are the beneficiaries of the projects, but rather that the projects have been adapted to the needs, customs and specificities of the communities themselves, with the aim of making the programmes sustainable over time. This has involved, for example, the translation of materials into local languages, and the adaptation of some solutions, whether in terms of infrastructure or methods of implementation. Thus, for example, the construction of dry toilets in Bolivia (sanitation solutions that take into account the specificities of the population and the availability of water to adapt to them) or projects through executing nuclei (núcleos ejecutores) in Peru (a modality whereby the community, not the municipal governments or other authorities, is responsible for hiring the necessary professionals, and the rest of the non-specialised staff is hired from within the community itself, that is involved in the construction of the water and sanitation systems).
SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities.
SDG 11 seeks to make cities more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. In a rapidly urbanising world, with informal settlements growing by the day and environmental disasters causing widespread damage, adequate sanitation and safe drinking water are essential. The Water Fund’s programmes therefore focus on peri-urban areas (in addition to rural areas), with the aim of providing them with access to water purification, sewage systems and drinking water in order to avoid increasing precariousness and inequality in the provision of services. In this sense, work is mainly done in intermediate cities, improving people’s living conditions and thus helping them to stay there, preventing the exodus to big cities and the over-concentration of population.
SDG 13: Climate action.
The Fund’s programmes emphasise environmental issues, promoting adaptation to climate change through solutions adapted to the needs and capacities of the population, taking an integrated water resources management approach.
Work has been carried out on the protection of river basins and on the diagnosis and study of environmentally affected areas. Many of these projects have been implemented through the Delegated Cooperation by the European Union, within the programme to Promote adaptation to climate change and integrated water resources management in the water and sanitation sector in Latin America within the framework of the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation (FCAS). Furthermore, the entire sanitation and wastewater treatment sector has a direct and immediate effect on the environment.
SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions.
Water is a scarce commodity that can lead to conflicts over its use and management, especially where transboundary basins are involved, which can lead to water wars. For this reason, good water management and governance is key, something that is emphasised in the Fund’s projects. In this sense, the Fund has worked with a regional vision, through a Technical Cooperation called “Transboundary Water Resources: A Water Safety Framework for Transboundary Basins in Latin America and the Caribbean”, implemented by the IADB and supported by the Regional LAIF. The aim is to support the transboundary water management model using tools that make it possible to carry out diagnoses and establish shared management scenarios, minimising conflicts and planning management in a resilient and sustainable manner. This approach has a direct impact on peace-building in the region. The Fund also worked specifically in Colombia, contributing to peace-building.
SDG 17: Partnerships for Sustainable Development Goals.
Within the framework of SDG 17, which aims to foster a global partnership for development, the Fund works in two ways. On the one hand, by weaving a network of accompaniment and joint work with the partner countries which, over the years, has made it possible to create a close and trusting dialogue at the highest level. On the other hand, working hand in hand with numerous key national and international actors and networks within the sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this regard, the Fund counts on the Inter-American Development Bank as a strategic partner in the region. Another of the strengths of Spanish Cooperation and the Fund’s programmes is that they take advantage of the experience and excellence of Spain’s leading institutions in the water sector to cooperate through studies, field visits, technical reports and training in Latin America, within the framework of SDG 17 to promote a global partnership for development.
