Programme management in 2020 was hampered by the impact of the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic along with institutional changes that took place hampered programme management notably the merger process between the Water Secretariat (SENAGUA) and the Ministry of Environment to create the new Ministry of Environment and Water (MAAE), as well as several changes in the leadership of both institutions.
The main bilateral programme is the so-called PASEE “Drinking water and sanitation in rural communities and small municipalities“, ECU-050-B, with a 16 million euro contribution from the FCAS and the Ministry of Environment and Water (MAAE) as a counterpart. The programme has accumulated delays and the programme documents are currently being modified as a result of a new approved management model, which led to a deadline extension being granted in December 2019. The new model is proving difficult to implement.
The second bilateral programme is the drinking water and sanitation programme in dispersed rural communities in the Portoviejo Canton (ECU-051-B), which receives a grant of 2.3 million euros from the Water Fund. This programme complements a large credit operation involving the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in addition to AECID’s instrument for reimbursable cooperation (FONPRODE). The programme also includes 10 million euros of funds from the EU’s LAIF initiative, managed by the AECID as delegated cooperation, with a view to strengthening previous actions with technical assistance and housing improvements, as well as completing access to water and sanitation for the dispersed rural population. The contribution agreement between the European Commission and AECID was signed in December 2020.
The Portoviejo programme, which is in full implementation, has adapted to the health situation caused by COVID-19, redirecting funds for the delivery of water by tankers in communities that still do not have drinking water services, the purchase of chlorine comparators to check residual chlorine in drinking water systems, and awareness-raising and communication actions in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Water to promote hygiene measures and the need to continue paying for services.
In December 2020, the Financing Agreement was signed for the third bilateral drinking water and sanitation programme in rural communities in the San Lorenzo Canton in response to the COVID-19 health crisis, ECU-052-B, complementary to the delegated cooperation programme Frontera Norte: Territorio de Desarrollo y Paz, intervening in the border area with Colombia in the province of Esmeraldas. This region has the highest poverty rates in Ecuador and was one of the worst affected by the 2016 earthquake. The programme will finance the improvement of rural water and sanitation services, the urban network of the city and strengthen municipal water management and the capacity to respond to health emergencies such as COVID-19, benefiting around 3,400 people, mostly Afro-descendants and indigenous people.
As a complement to the FCAS programmes, a programme was launched in 2020 to support public drinking water and sanitation services in Montubio, indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian populations in the provinces of Manabí and Esmeraldas in the context of the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, for an amount of 212,617.44 euros, financed by the LAIF Regional Delegated Cooperation Programme and implemented by the specialised NGO PROTOS. It aims to benefit 2,000 families living in dispersed rural areas in conditions of extreme poverty.
