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Bolivia WATCH — or WASH Thinking Connected to Hydrology — works to arm the country’s institutions with the information and capacity to connect two policy-making spheres: safe sanitation and watershed management.
This connection can help Bolivia seize opportunities to ensure sufficient water for investments in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), as well as maximize the contribution of those investments to successful watershed management.
Water management poses a critical development challenge in Bolivia, as highlighted by the 2017 water supply crisis in La Paz and by widespread flooding in Cochabamba in 2018. Limited access to safely managed sanitation services is also a major challenge in Bolivia, where only half the population had access to basic sanitation in 2015, and less than 15% of wastewater received any treatment. Bolivia, however, is well positioned to respond positively to these challenges because of the existence of a progressive and proactive Ministry of the Environment and Water (MMAyA for its Spanish initials).
The Bolivia WATCH program – or the WASH Thinking Connected to Hydrology program – supports ongoing efforts by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to both promote innovative Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) solutions and implementation of Bolivia’s National Watershed Plan.
Over three years, SEI will coordinate these two lines of collaboration with MMAyA and work in strong and sustained partnership with other important organizations in Bolivia.
A misty morning in the Bolivian capital La Paz, surrounded by Andean mountains. Photo: Harri Jarvelainen Photography / Getty Images.
Past event / SEI Research Associates Carla Liera and Nhilce Esquivel and Research Fellow Linus Dagerskog will take part in both side events and the LatinoSan conference.
Perspective / SEI researchers Felipe Benavides and Jeanne Fernandez reflect on a recent tour of Bolivia's Tupiza watershed, where residents have "lost everything."
Feature / SEI experts explain how a new project will help Bolivia connect sanitation with watershed management.
Tool / The Water Evaluation and Planning tool (WEAP) provides a comprehensive, flexible and user-friendly framework for policy analysis in water resources planning.
Tool / Resource Value Mapping (REVAMP) helps city planners estimate resources and reuse potential in a city's wastewater and their financial values.
Feature / SEI's Sanitation and Health team will participate at the VI Latin American Sanitation Conference (LatinoSan) 2022, highlighting Bolivia WATCH and sanitation.
SEI brief / A new tool developed by SEI's Bolivia WATCH team integrates sanitation and hygiene considerations into watershed planning.
SEI report / Additional solutions, capacity development and strengthening of governance systems are needed to allow for increased sustainability of the city's sanitation.
SEI brief / Urban and agricultural growth in Bolivian dry forests are putting pressure on groundwater and surface water supply. SEI research seeks to quantify the problem.
SEI brief / This fact sheet explores the research aimed at preserving the ecosystems of high-elevation wetlands in Bolivia amid the effects of climate change.
Perspective / SEI researchers Felipe Benavides and Jeanne Fernandez reflect on a recent tour of Bolivia's Tupiza watershed, where residents have "lost everything."
Feature / SEI and the local partners use robust decision support to identify key players, collect data, develop tools and conduct capacity building in Bolivia.
Feature / In Chía, Colombia, inadequate waste management is putting lives and ecosystems at risk. We worked with locals to crunch data and calculate scenarios for change.
Journal article / How does the water resources system model contribute to the development of effective water planning instruments?
Feature / SEI experts explain how a new project will help Bolivia connect sanitation with watershed management.
Feature / Farmers in Bolivia are struggling as their water supply becomes increasingly unreliable. Could better models lead to policies that help the most vulnerable?
SEI working paper / This paper describes the development of poverty-related indicators in SEI's Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) tool.
Feature / Bolivia faces a deepening water crisis. SEI helped plan for the future by creating the first-ever comprehensive model of Bolivia’s rivers, lakes and streams.
SEI brief / Clean and Green is the first rural sanitation implementation framework that explicitly addresses efficient local resource management
Project / BONUS RETURN – reducing emissions by turning nutrients and carbon into benefits. The project focuses on turning waste into circular solutions for the Baltic Sea
Project / Urban waste into circular economy benefits (UrbanCircle) is developing a way to integrate waste management and resource recovery into a circular economy.
Project / The empowerment in WASH index (EWI) project measures empowerment and social inclusion of water, sanitation and hygiene interventions.
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