Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
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
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Volvamos a la fuente

Agua, saneamiento y residuos solidos

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • AquaFund
    • Featured
    • Gender
    • Hydro-BID
    • Innovation and data
    • Knowledge
    • Optimal sanitation
    • Solid waste
    • Source of Innovation
    • Unacccounted for water
    • WASH
    • Wastewater
    • Water and sanitation
    • Water resources
  • Authors
  • English

Umamamas, the mothers of the water in Bolivia

October 12, 2023 Por Anamaría Núñez Zelaya - María Augusta Olmedo Velasco Leave a Comment


In Bolivia, there is a group of mothers and guardians of the water: the Umamamas. Not only are they in charge of obtaining water resources for their families, they have also trained as plumbers to ensure its distribution and generate support networks.

Spanish version is available here

By Nabilia López Rivero

Apthapi is a word that comes from the Aymara “apthapiña”, it means “to gather the harvest.” It is a gathering around flavors and honest conversations. The menu: A diverse variety of potatoes, beans, corn grains, fresh artisan cheeses and an inevitable “llajua”, a sauce produced with chili peppers, tomatoes and herbs ground in a stone mortar.

Around this apthapi, in La Paz, Bolivia we heard the Umamamas’ stories, which in Aymara, their native language, means “Mothers of the Water.” This group of women calls themselves this way to reflect the fundamental role they play in the management of water resources throughout the basins.

Spanish version

Caring through Plumbing

Suriquiña and Palcoco are two communities located in La Paz, Bolivia, more than 3,600 meters above sea level. It is near the mountains, where the basins originate and provide water to thousands of people in the cities of La Paz and El Alto, as well as rural populations, and even provide water to irrigate various crops.

Umamamas at a plumbing training in El Alto, Bolivia

In these communities there is a large group of women who, within the Multipurpose Drinking Water and Irrigation Program for the Municipalities of Batallas, Pucarani and El Alto, which is financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Strategic Weather Fund (FEC in Spanish) and the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), has been training for several months in plumbing. Several of these women have small children, they are dedicated to commerce and their crops, however, overcoming any setbacks, they go every Saturday to meet their companions, the Umamamas.

Many chose to be part of this training plan, initially, to be able to solve basic plumbing issues in their homes, without the need to wait for their husbands, brothers or a community plumber to provide assistance, but along the way they have understood that this knowledge is equally, or perhaps more useful to be applied in their irrigation systems for their plots. They have discovered that water can be used much more and more efficiently, and thus take care of this vital element that, due to climate change, is increasingly scarce around the world.

Due to the particular situation of Bolivia, there are initiatives of this type throughout the country, supported and financed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), which has been implementing this type of training since 2011. Through the program “Training for Women in Plumbing” has benefited more than 56,000 people belonging to 14 rural communities in five departments of Bolivia: La Paz, Santa Cruz, Oruro, Beni and Cochabamba. And today, the Umamamas are also part of this network of women in charge of taking care of their country’s water resources.

Umamama analyzing the water in a stream

Mothers and Guardians of the Water

The older women in the group remember that before the seasons of the year were marked. There were periods of frost, periods of rain and this, added to their knowledge, allowed them to have very good harvests. However, climate change has made it increasingly difficult to predict times of drought or other phenomena. For this reason, they have become aware of the need to implement irrigation systems that allow more efficient use of water.

But the knowledge has not only benefited the trained, but these women have become true mothers and guardians of water. Without any misgivings, they share their knowledge and convince more women every day to join this group:

  • Virgilia, the trainer, is a woman from the community who has dedicated her entire life to construction in El Alto. Her husband is a master bricklayer, which has allowed her to self-taught herself as a plumber and electrician.
  • Mary, one of the youngest women, has been left in charge of her two children, while her husband emigrated to Chile to be able to work in the tomato crop. She leaves very early on Saturdays so she can go sell products at a fair and then quickly returns on her motorcycle so she can participate in the training.

The Umamamas say that, in addition to learning, they like to play soccer. There in the middle of the community, without the need for signage, they have established a place for meeting, learning and recreation. This group of women of different ages and different walks of life found in the water a common ground and an opportunity to make synergies, empower themselves and become leaders.

These stories of impact, there in the middle of the plateau, near the snow-capped mountain from which the waters flow and around an apthapi, are the inspiration to continue working for the development of Bolivia and the region. And where a camera and a reporter allow us to record beyond our memory, to gather like the harvest, the stories of people who are improving their lives and those of their communities.

The IDB together with the AECID have the common objective of providing quality water and sanitation services in rural areas of the region. Learn more about the projects carried out so far with the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation (FCAS) in this publication.

This is the last chapter of the first season of “Women Upstream”. Follow each story in our blog to learn more about the life of women that have worked in benefit of their community tenaciously, with perseverance, and acquiring leadership in spaces that used to be only for men.

“Women Upstream”. Follow each story to learn more about the lives of women who have worked for their community with tenacity, perseverance and gaining leadership in spaces that used to be only for men.

To learn more about “Women Upstream” subscribe to our blog here.

The businesswoman who broke the glass ceiling in the Costa Rican water administration  

*Nabilia López Rivero is a Communications and External Relations Consultant at the IDB office in Bolivia. Before joining the IDB in 2021, she was Strategic Communicator for the United Nations Development Programme in Bolivia and communicator for the UNDP Human Development Report. Previously, she led advertising projects for major commercial brands and has taught at the Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo.
Nabilia holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Communication, specializations in Creative Communication Planning and Multimedia Investigative Journalism, and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Communication Sciences

Upstream Women’s Team:

Coordination: Anamaría Núñez, María Augusta Olmedo and Leticia Ortega
IDB Gender Specialists: Naiara Martínez
Content: Andrea Ortega Carreño and Paul Constance
Illustration: Verónica Alvarado and Carolina Curbelo
Audiovisual Production: Adriana Loeff


Filed Under: Gender, WASH, Water and sanitation Tagged With: Saneamiento, Sanitation, Water

Anamaría Núñez Zelaya

Anamaría Núñez is a Water and Sanitation Sr. Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. Among her main responsibilities in the Division, Anamaría is in charge of gender and inclusion aspects, is part of the Haiti team, in addition to supporting initiatives related to knowledge dissemination particularly linked to human rights, out-of-home water and sanitation services and innovation. Anamaria also leads and is part of initiatives related to strategic partnerships. Anamaría has a master’s degree in international relations from the Paris Institute of Political Sciences (Sciences Po Paris) and another master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.

María Augusta Olmedo Velasco

María Augusta Olmedo Velasco es una experimentada comunicadora ecuatoriana. Con una licenciatura en Publicidad y una maestría en Comunicación Corporativa, cuenta con más de 20 años de experiencia. Ha trabajado en proyectos integrales de comunicación, gestión digital, análisis de datos y adquisición de clientes. También fue Brand Manager en medios de comunicación en Ecuador. Actualmente, desempeña el rol de Consultora de Comunicaciones para la División de Agua y Saneamiento del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), donde lidera estrategias de comunicación y apoyo a eventos internacionales.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW US

Suscribete

Search

Recent Posts

  • The challenges Irma, Morelia and Sobeida face to obtain water in Guatemala
  • The Future of Sócrates in Pampa Hermosa
  • Innovation meets resilience: Tackling desertification in the Atacama Desert
  • Innovate & Integrative: A Study Tour Journey Through South Korea’s Water, Sanitation, and Solid Waste Management Schemes and Technologies
  • Water Transforms Lives in Rural Communities of Ecuador

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Derechos de autor © 2025 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube
    This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
    To learn more about cookies, click here
    x
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT