Panama

At the end of 2020, the bilateral programme’s projects are currently in a vulnerable situation, given that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Panama and the restrictions adopted as a health measure to combat it have made it impossible to make the expected progress in the implementation of the projects’ water and sanitation infrastructure, as well as in the rest of the programme components (institutional, community) and in activities concerning cross-cutting issues (health, gender, climate change, multiculturalism).

In this bilateral programme, only one of the four batches of tendered projects has been completed. This is the Chichica-Las Lajitas project, where a gravity-fed drinking water system has been built that has improved supply to the beneficiary rural communities in terms of supply, service time (24h), quality and storage. The operator has also been strengthened in the operation and maintenance of the systems. The project also built 325 individual sanitation units and two school units. With regard to the multilateral portfolio together with the Inter-American Development Bank, progress of the works has been irregular, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, as access has been made difficult by the sanitary confinements. Due to the stalled implementation, the programme has been granted an extension until 30 June 2021.

The institutional strengthening activities of the Rural Water Management Boards (Juntas Administradoras de Agua Rural – JAAR) are being implemented and, although with a longer timeframe, the gender plan continues to be implemented with the desired development of schools for women water leaders.

Likewise, and as part of the strategic support and technical assistance for the development of the water and sanitation sector in Panama, in 2018 the new Programme for the Participatory Preparation and Dissemination of the “National Guide for the Selection of Wastewater Treatment Technologies” was also approved, the general objective of which is to support the implementation of the National Drinking Water and Sanitation Policy for the Republic of Panama 2019-2030. However, this project has also been delayed due to the pandemic.