The Seed Initiative requested BPD support to a partnership project in Cochabamba. The Agua para Todos partnership brings together a locally-based private company (Agua Tuya/Plastiforte), the public water utility which currently holds the concessionary agreement (Servicio Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado or SEMAPA), the municipal authority and the United Nations Development Programme office of Bolivia. In addition, two micro-financing institutions work with the partnership: the foundation Pro Habitat, which also provides training in aspects of community-managed systems, and CIDRE, a regional credit agency for Cochabamba department.
An initial BPD visit took place in October 2005 resulting in the drafting of a Business Plan for the partnership that has since been circulated to possible donors. BPD expects to follow up in different ways with this project.
For further information, please see this 4-page document The Agua Para Todos Partnership: Potential Opportunities and Potential Hurdles for Scaling-up and Replication (Harold Lockwood, AguaConsult, December 05).
This short paper examines both the success factors that have enabled the positive growth of the partnership model as well as potential hurdles for scaling-up.