Capacity Building for the Development of Public-Private-Community Partnerships for the Provision of Water and Sanitation Services in Informal Settlements, Moreno, Argentina

Actors

The Municipality of Moreno (mainly through IDUAR - the Institute for Urban, Environmental and Regional Development), the NGO IIED AL (the International Institute for Environment and Development Latin America), the private concessionaire AGBA S.A. (Aguas del Gran Buenos Aires a mixed capital consortium), several Community Groups from within the municipality of Moreno and UNDP (the United Nations Development Programme) which funds the partnership project.

Project Description

Formed in October 2002, the partnership came together in response to an UNDP-funded project to address service provision to poor communities in the Municipality of Moreno (within Greater Buenos Aires). Over the proceeding 16 months the partners were to experiment with new approaches and working styles and to explore public-private-civil society partnerships as an effective methodology for tackling social development problems. 

Context

In 1989, as part of Argentinas public utilities reform, service provision and maintenance concessions were granted to private companies. The concessionaires contracts, regulated by national bodies, include coverage targets for low-income neighbourhoods where there are few network connections, often serious sanitation and environmental problems and a lack of formal land tenure.

Due to current political and economic reform and lack of a provincial water policy, the water concession contracts are currently awaiting renegotiation. Whilst the newly elected government is committed to renegotiate these contracts, the resulting uncertainty has meant that the concessionaires are reluctant to invest further and that their regulators, also awaiting the renegotiations, have neglected to enforce expansion plans.

In Moreno, over 60% of the 380,000 inhabitants live below the poverty line.  Neighbourhoods in the district suffer from poorly maintained or non-existent infrastructure, lack of formal land ownership and insecurity in terms of personal safety and livelihoods.  In July 2003 connections to water services stood at 18.3 % whilst sanitation connections were merely 10.7 %. 

The long-term beneficiaries of the project are the inhabitants of Moreno together with similar districts in which such a partnership approach to development may be replicated. The partnership is not designed to deliver the hardware required by these inhabitants; but to develop a more inclusive process for doing so successfully.   

Objectives and structures of the partnership

The core aim of the partnership is to develop cross-sector collaboration to address water and sanitation problems in the Municipality of Moreno. The partnership broker, IIED, has initially sought to build capacity among the partners so that each understands the need for the partnership, and is equipped with the necessary skills to make the delivery of infrastructure sustainable.  Central to this is community involvement.  Specific objectives include:

i) The establishment of a Joint Management Unit (Unidad de Gestin Asociada / UGA) with representation from each partner; ii) To perform a participatory assessment (diagnostico) of the  nature of water and sanitation services provision across Moreno; iii) To organise awareness raising on water and sanitation issues and capacity building workshops for different groups working in the community; iv) For partners to obtain funding for a pilot project;  v) To produce a series of transferable operations and management tools to be used at local, national and international levels, in other municipalities, and other areas where AGBA operates.

Roles and Responsibilities

IIED AL is the co-ordinator and broker. It is responsible for liaising and reporting to UNDP (the donor organisation), administering the project funding, co-ordinating workshops, and disseminating the results of the partnership to the partners, the wider community and UNDP.  The Municipality of Moreno (IDUAR) is responsible for coordinating the operation of the project across the municipal area as well as providing data, manpower and technical support.  AGBA disseminates the work of the partnership and encourages its replication in other municipalities in its concession mandate. It also provides technical and administrative expertise.  The community is considered a partner and participates in the partnership via information gathering exercises, workshops and meetings.  UNDP funds the partnership through its PPPUE funding programme.

Community Liaison

Both IIED and IDUAR are making substantial efforts to engage community representatives in the partnership activities and to provide feedback to them on progress.  It is noted that successful community involvement will validate the projects success.  Consistent community involvement and the establishment of networks will help to strengthen the communitys identity, thus helping to address problems of social exclusion.  Much time and energy is being invested to ensure that research for the partnership and demands for improved water and sanitation services are accurate, transparent and community-validated. Both IIED and IDUAR have met with a wide range of community representatives within the municipality on a regular basis.

Communications and Feedback

Internal communications amongst partners have taken place through regular meetings, progress reports that are submitted to UNDP as part of their funding requirements and through informal, regular contact. Monitoring and evaluation of the partnership is being carried out by both Building Partnerships for Development and UNDP.  External communications have taken place through regular engagement and liaison with the community representatives, disseminating findings from the workshops and meetings and the collation of the data for the diagnostico.

Evolution and Institutionalisation

The partnership framework had been institutionalised in the UGA, which aims to demonstrate greater flexibility in meeting the needs of low-income groups through a combination of technological systems, financial mechanisms and organisational changes.  Ultimately it is hoped that this will provide the basis for developing a fully centralised water system in Moreno in the form of a Local Water Authority (LWA) to deal with all aspects of the water cycle in the community and examine and implement different strategies to provide water and sanitation services to poor neighbourhoods.

The partnership has also created a strong and mutually beneficial relationship between IDUAR and IIED, leading to further collaboration between the two organisations for additional social development projects in Moreno.

Results

i) The UGA has been established; ii) the diagnostico has produced useable, timely GIS based data on watsan quality and the community make-up of Moreno; iii) Community interest in what is happening across the municipality is growing and a cross-community voice is developing; iv) a willingness by UNDP to support similar projects on the basis of a partnership approach has been identified and IIED has applied to UNDP for additional funding for this project; v) all the partners have stated their intention to replicate the experience.

Strengths

Partners demonstrated and benefited from strong commitment to the partnership.  Communications have been transparent between all of the partners and also with the community.  Complimentarily is so strong that some of the partners have already identified further opportunities for partnering.  The high level of community involvement has provided further evidence for the partnerships legitimacy.

Next Steps and Replicability

All the partnership actors aim to replicate the project and lessons learned from the joint management style to other projects.  A revision of the UNDP feedback structure in alignment with the partnership ethos is recommended as a way of fostering creativity and flexibility within the partnership.  Contractual uncertainty and a lack geographical complimentarity have prevented AGBA from fully benefiting or contributing to this partnership.  Despite this AGBA is keen to replicate partnership approaches elsewhere in Moreno and a revision of AGBAs roles, responsibility and incentives may support this commitment.

Other useful next steps include: creating wider networks and linkages; clarifying the roles of the UGA and the proposed LWA; seeking further regulatory involvement; creating some demonstrable quick wins for the community; promoting greater donor involvement; finding new approaches to resources including mobilising other financial and human resources; and establishing wider linkages with groups such as the media, local NGOs, international organisations and agencies.

Wider lessons

i) Ensure partners have relevant incentives; ii) the role of broker is important; iii) partner assessment must account for contextual factors; iv) a focus on processes rather than projects aids replicability; v) level of donor involvement needs to be verified; vi) personal relationships between partners significantly influence the outcome; vii) thorough community involvement, especially when it cuts across the community, can validate a partnership.

Synopsis content update June 2004