IDB COMPASS Program Colombia, Phase II

During the last two decades, Colombia considerably strengthened the water and sanitation sector. The country set up a comprehensive legal and institutional framework to improve water and sanitation services. Nevertheless, coverage and water quality gaps are still prominent as well as the challenges in reducing the risk of water insecurity. In Colombia, more than one third of the population lives under water stress due to disparities in the availability of the resource. The sector still suffers from high non-revenue-water rates, the need for investments in technology and innovation, as well as the funding gap.

The Programme’s overall goal is to contribute to the improvement of the quality and sustainability of the urban water and sanitation services in Colombia to foster sustainable economic growth.

This second and last phase aims at supporting the two water associations, ANDESCO and ACODAL, in strengthening and integrating their two existing and successful initiatives from phase I within their mandate and core business: the Sectoral Action (by ANDESCO) and the Water Operators Partnership platform (by ACODAL). Furthermore, it will benefit the entire sector through free access to best practices and knowledge.

The Sectorial Action initiative and the WOP platform are institutionalized in the two associations.

The two sector associations ANDESCO and ACODAL mobilised additional resources for sustainably financing their corporate development activities in the water sector.

Peer-to-peer learning and technical support expanded among water utilities.

Institutional and professional capacity/skills of the water sector improved.

Risultati principali attesi:  

ANDESCO’s and ACODAL’s capacity building and organisational adjustments plans are developed and implemented.

Sectoral Action’s and WOP-Colombia’s funding strategy are developed and implemented.

Monitoring and evaluation systems for new corporate development topics are designed and implemented within the Sectoral Action.

Sectoral Action improvement plans related to new strategic corporate development indicators are developed.

Knowledge products are developed.

Courses are developed and delivered.

Web modules for networking and knowledge exchange are developed.

Dissemination plan of products and knowledge to stakeholders are designed and implemented.

International presentations are delivered to position the Sectoral Action and WOP-Colombia and their achievements.

Partnerships between water utilities are implemented.

Business cases are documented.

Workshops are organised to disseminate WOP-Colombia products and knowledge.

Risultati fasi precedenti:  

The COMPASS Programme’s first phase was implemented from 2017 to 2024 with a total budget of 16,1 Mio. USD. An external evaluation rated the Programme being successful, having achieved or over-achieved its main objectives. The main result of the COMPASS Programme during its first phase is the promotion of a cultural change towards corporate development in the urban water and sanitation sector in Colombia through the AquaRating-COMPASS model. The previous mindset in the sector was focused solely on building infrastructure for increasing coverage, without assessing service quality and performance. Through the COMPASS Programme phase I, an aggregate of 18 urban water utilities reached an average of 19% performance improvement. At the policy level, the Programme could support the development and implementation of a sector monitoring system, as well as the issuance of three sectoral regulations.