3.3 Community Management of Rural Water and Associativism in Colombia<\/b><\/p>\n
Mondomo is a rural community in the municipality of Santander de Quilichao Colombia. The community has a drinking water treatment plant that was built through an alliance between the public and private sectors and the community. The plant has supplied potable water 24 hours a day for the past 15 years. The management of the system is the responsibility of Mondomo\u2019s Association of Water Users. Mondomo has played a critical role in the creation of AQUACOL, the Colombian Association of Community-Based Water Services Providers and has had a prominent role as a Community Learning Centre for Water. In 1998, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) awarded the community with the “Partnerships for Overcoming Poverty” prize for these efforts.<\/p>\n
This case study assessed the emergence of AQUACOL and its model of community management, the lessons learned by Mondomo through its Community Learning Centre in the promotion of community-led management of water and sanitation services, the opportunities and challenges facing the long-term sustainability of the system, and the feasibility of replicating the experience in other cases.<\/p>\n
This case study was coordinated by Dr Mariela Garc\u00eda and Dr Miguel Pe\u00f1a, from the CINARA Institute at the University of the Valley (UNIVALLE), Cali, Colombia.<\/p>\n
The case study report has now been published as:<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a, M., M. Garc\u00eda, A. F. Toro, J. Vargas, V. A. Ceron, E. Mena, and V. Orjuela (2015), \u201cCommunity-based water associations in Colombia\u2019s rural areas\u201d, in J. E. Castro (Ed.), WATERLAT-GOBACIT Working Papers<\/span>, DESAFIO Project Series SPIDES, Vol. 2, No 11. Download it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Interviews with members of Mondomo community:<\/strong><\/p>\n