Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation

Volvamos a la fuente

Agua, saneamiento y residuos solidos

The Americas’ road to 10th World Water Forum with OLAS Data

Por - - Leave a Comment


Spanish version available here

The Regional Process of the Americas has come to an end. This process — coordinated by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in collaboration with governmental actors and various organizations in the region — aims to produce the regional report on the status of water in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be presented at the 10th World Water Forum (WWF) next month in Bali.

Collaboration, the key to the Americas’ regional process

The Regional Process of the Americas is a collaborative and participatory process that identifies challenges faced by the water sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) , encouraging their analysis through various sociodemographic and economic lenses to develop regional and local strategies to approach them.

Historically, however, data availability has been a challenge. Large data gaps in the subregions with respect to water resources are often highlighted as obstacles in and of themselves, even with respect to basic metrics such as total available water resources and wastewater treatment rates. More complex information necessary for developing effective policies in the sector, such as data disaggregated by gender, migratory status, or socioeconomic factors present a particular challenge.

This year, however, the process benefited from the participation of the Water and Sanitation Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OLAS), which provided tools, data workshops, and guidance on data sources necessary for generating the report.

The process consisted of workshops (6 sessions), with government focal points and other relevant sector stakeholders participating. These workshops defined the regional reports’ primary areas of focus and facilitated discussion and synthesis of subregional trends in the sector. Findings from the workshops were then used to generate subregional reports which, at the end of the process, provided the basis for the regional report, which describes the state of the water sector and challenges faced throughout the region as well as recommendations.

In addition to discussing the 6 main themes proposed by the World Water Council:

  • Water Security and Prosperity
  • Water for Humans and Nature,
  • Water Financing,
  • Disaster Risk Reduction and Management,
  • Cooperation and Hydro-Diplomacy, and
  • Knowledge and Innovation,

These workshops also identified important emerging topics in the sector, such as:

  • Cross-border Cooperation
  • Capacity Building
  • Youth
  • Vulnerable Populations (Migrants)
  • Gender
  • Circular Economy
  • Innovative Financing
  • Resilience and Water Security

OLAS, a key actor in the process

The OLAS supported this process, which began in June of 2023, in several ways. Principally, the OLAS’ specialists indexed reliable data sources to be used for each major topic and participated in one of the regional workshops to identify national, subregional and regional sources of information, which were then made accessible as a toolkit on the platform.

Within the subregions, the OLAS held additional work sessions about technical capacity throughout the region and generated short presentations summarizing trends in the available data, as well as major data gaps for water and sanitation issues through the lenses of gender, migration, and water stress. Finally, the OLAS reviewed the subregional reports, providing feedback on the data sources used to ensure consistency across the region.

Data availability still poses a significant challenge in the region, including with respect to the generation of high-level regional reports in LAC. However, the implementation of a regional process wherein contributors are aligned with respect to the universe of available data and reliability of that data not only facilitates the creation of a more cohesive, consistent, and reliable final report but also generates a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the sector. The existence of a centralized observatory for information, datasets and reports on water and sanitation in LAC allows contributors to access the necessary data easily and quickly and provides a means for increased cohesion in data use and messaging throughout the region.

“The OLAS has emerged as a cornerstone of regional progress and dialogue on water issues. Through data collection, analysis and dissemination efforts, the OLAS has provided invaluable insights, facilitated informed decision-making at the national and regional level and has recently served as a relevant input for the forthcoming regional report. By promoting collaboration and knowledge-sharing on data, the OLAS intends to continue shaping the water and sanitation agenda and fostering that the sector is included in the regional development efforts”. – Maria Eugenia de la Peña, Coordinator of the OLAS initiative at the IDB.

About OLAS

The Water and Sanitation Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OLAS) is a digital platform that collects and makes relevant information from the water and sanitation sector in the region available to the public. By doing this, OLAS contributes to understanding the sector’s situation and monitoring it within the framework of the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The OLAS platform 2.0 launched in March 2024 and is available for you to explore. Visit at www.olasdata.org to discover useful tools and sectoral information, analyze data, and find out about upcoming events and opportunities in the water and sanitation sector.


Maria Eugenia de la Peña

María Eugenia is a Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist at the IDB Representation in Panama, where she leads the dialogue with the Panamanian Government on issues related to water resource management, urban and rural water and sanitation, stormwater drainage, and solid waste management. Since 2011, she has worked at the IDB, participating in the design and implementation of water and sanitation projects in several Latin American and Caribbean countries. She has promoted various regional agendas, such as the circular economy in water and sanitation, the reuse of treated wastewater, the use of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), and the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions in water and sanitation systems. In addition, she has coordinated the Water and Sanitation Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OLAS) since its inception, promoting the proper management of regional sectoral data. Prior to joining the IDB, she worked at the National Water Commission in Mexico, where she was responsible for supporting water and sanitation companies through financing, technical assistance, and training. She also conducted community work in water and sanitation in rural communities in Mexico. María Eugenia is a civil engineer, graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and holds a master's degree in Environmental Engineering from the Hamburg University of Technology in Germany.

Jesse Madden Libra

Jesse Libra is a Data Analyst Consultant for the Water and Sanitation Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), working with both the Knowledge team and the Latin American Water and Sanitation Observatory (OLAS), where she supports research, data production, and data analysis. Jesse holds a Masters of Science in Energy and Earth Resources and a Masters of Global Policy Studies, both from the University of Texas at Austin, where she specialized in international water management and climate change. She has experience working in policy development with the Texas House of Representatives and in community outreach and flood protection with the Texas Water Development Board. After leaving Texas for Mexico in 2017, she headed the Data Analytics area of a Google Cloud Platform Partner specializing in digital transformation until joining the IDB in late 2020.

Maria Alejandra Baquero

Consultant Economist for the Water and Sanitation Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), especially for the Latin American Water and Sanitation Observatory (OLAS) team, where she supports the different components of the platform, especially the document repository, the development of country diagnostics about the management of sectoral information, governance and relations with the countries of the region. Maria Alejandra has a MSc in Economics with an emphasis on quantitative methods and public policy and has experience in the water and sanitation sector both at the regional level and in Colombia, where she worked with the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory (MVCT), the Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation Regulatory Commission (CRA), among other sectoral entities in the country. His functions supported the formulation and implementation of public policy through the application of econometric models, as well as the monitoring of the execution of national sectoral resources.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *