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Event

also available in Spanish

World Water Week: Sanitation and watershed management cooperation for improved governance and investments

This online World Water Week session will present an overview of Bolivia WATCH, a program that aims to improve water management in Bolivia by linking watershed governance and sanitation and working with local actors to generate integrated plans that seek to maximize benefit to all water users. This event is open to all World Water Week registrants.

World Water Week is presented by Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

24 August 2022 at 18:30 CEST

ending at 19:50 CEST

Sweden and Online
Event contact

Marisa Escobar

WATCH — WASH Thinking Connected to Hydrology — is an innovative program linking watershed management to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to reduce poverty and enhance livelihoods. It combines scientific methods with local knowledge to create an inclusive strategy that ensures equitable access to clean water and sanitation.

In this session, SEI researchers will present how this approach is being used in Bolivia and why it is essential as the country’s economy and water demand grow. The event will detail a multi-scale, multi-objective process, using tools that were co-designed with communities and government institutions. The process helped formulate plans for three watersheds that included not only water availability for productive uses, but also equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation. This highlighted the value of water in contributing to poverty reduction and a more sustainable, equitable, and climate-resilient future.

Presenters will highlight the resulting plans that integrate watershed dynamics and WASH actions leading to actions that improve water security and that have financial viability through short and long-term investments. They will demonstrate how integrative approaches can tackle water management challenges beyond WASH and watershed to include issues environmental flows and public health.

Agenda

  • Welcome and introduction to “Sanitation and watershed management cooperation for improved governance and investments” – Bolivia WATCH Program
    Guido Meruvia Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Program Officer – Sweden Embassy Bolivia
  • Conceptual and methodological framework for the integration of sanitation and watershed management: Bolivia WATCH program
    Melina Balderrama, Bolivia WATCH program coordinator
  • The stakeholder’s perspective: how the integration of sanitation and watershed management improved governance and investments?
  • Q&A
  • Strengths, weaknesses, and key challenges for the integration of sanitation and watershed management: lessons learned from Bolivia WATCH project
    Adriana Soto, Stockholm Environment Institute
  • Breakout Group Discussion
    Breakout room 1: Discussion panel regarding proposals to overcome the weaknesses and key challenges for the integration of sanitation and watershed management
    Facilitator: Marisa Escobar, Stockholm Environment Institute
    Breakout room 2: Financing panel to implement actions that integrate sanitation and watershed management
    Facilitator: Melina Balderrama, Bolivia WATCH program coordinator
  • Summary and wrap up
  • End of session

SEI team

Cláudia Coleoni

Research Associate

SEI Latin America

Gustavo Ayala

Research Associate

SEI Latin America

Adriana Soto
Adriana Soto Trujillo

Research Associate

SEI Headquarters

Tania Santos

Research Fellow

SEI Latin America

Profile picture of Annette Huber-Lee
Annette Huber-Lee

Senior Scientist

SEI US

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