Progress is like water flowing from the mountains; it’s always finding a way to reach even the most remote places. In the Ayacucho region of Peru, about 80 kilometers from historic Huamanga, lies Pampa Hermosa, a small village of approximately 350 inhabitants. In 2011, this community received support from the IDB and the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean (FECASALC) to improve its water and sanitation services. Sócrates Yanasupo, who has lived there all his life, is a privileged witness to the new currents of development in his town.
Peru is known for its abundant water sources, such as the Amazon River and Lake Titicaca, which, along with other important tributaries, provide it with a natural advantage. Paradoxically, the country faces challenges in achieving universal access to water. In 2011, potable water and sanitation coverage in rural areas stood at 66.7% and 49.5%, respectively. That year, the IDB and FECASALC launched the Water and Sanitation Service Improvement and Expansion Program (PROCOES), executed by the Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation through the National Rural Sanitation Program (PNSR).
Sócrates Yanasupo, an Ayacucho native, represents many people who faced significant challenges in accessing water and sanitation services. Now a proud father and grandfather, he recalls walking to collect water from irrigation canals to help his family with daily chores in his childhood. With a hint of nostalgia, he says, “Here, we would fill and empty the big bucket. It would last us up to three days, but by then, it was already contaminated.”
Over time, authorities implemented basic water collection infrastructure, so Sócrates’ children no longer had to walk long distances in search of water. This change reflected the benefits of early efforts to improve access to basic services. However, issues such as child malnutrition and gastrointestinal diseases continued to affect the health of Pampa Hermosa’s residents, including Sócrates and his family, due to poor water quality and inadequate sanitation.
PROCOES implemented 183 projects to increase water and sanitation service coverage in rural areas and small towns in the southern highland regions, including Ayacucho, Apurímac, Cusco, Huancavelica, and Puno. In Ayacucho, 50 projects were executed, one of which reached Pampa Hermosa.
Health and Safe Water in Pampa Hermosa
The comprehensive project benefited over 93,000 people across five regions by providing access to quality water and sanitation services.
The project implemented a new gravity-fed water system, including a water intake station, a reservoir, a pressure-breaking chamber, and a distribution system for each household. As a result, hundreds of families stopped using makeshift latrines and gained access to new basic sanitation units (UBS) equipped with sinks, showers, and toilets.
Soledad Núñez, a teacher at Pampa Hermosa’s school, recalls that the community experienced a significant transformation, leading to improved health conditions for its residents. She explains, “Back then, we didn’t have bathrooms, only latrines (…). We didn’t even know how to practice personal hygiene, and many of our children suffered from gastrointestinal diseases.” She also highlights the importance of hygiene awareness and proper water and sanitation usage as key components of the project.
Through PROCOES, the IDB strengthened community management capacities to ensure service provision and institutional development. This effort included the formation of Sanitation Service Administrative Boards composed of local residents, as well as municipal management units and specialized operators. Cristian Huicho, mayor of Pampa Hermosa, emphasizes, “We always encourage our community to do their part by maintaining the infrastructure properly. We are organized so that our people can move forward.”
This coordination created a virtuous cycle of commitment and mutual support, ensuring that infrastructure remained in optimal condition and was valued by the users themselves. The project fostered collaborative partnerships to guarantee that every drop of water and every sanitation service maintained its quality, continuing to provide the same benefits as when they were first introduced.
Thirteen years after PROCOES arrived, Pampa Hermosa has emerged from obscurity to become a successful model of integrated and sustainable water resource management—one that deserves to be replicated to benefit vulnerable communities and close social gaps in other areas.
The Future of Sócrates’ Grandchildren
PROCOES was fully implemented in 2018, channeling $236 million in funding for rural areas and small communities. But beyond the numbers and statistics, the true impact lies in the positive changes these projects have brought to communities like Pampa Hermosa.
As streams of development continue to flow toward Pampa Hermosa, the future that Sócrates Yanasupo envisions for his grandchildren grows ever more promising. This is why it is essential to keep supporting initiatives like PROCOES and the series of interventions under the FECASALC Fund across Latin America.
This article is part of the series “Changing the World Through Water and Sanitation”, a collaboration between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), highlighting the transformative impact of water and sanitation projects across Latin America and the Caribbean.
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