The CFI is an inter-state public body that works collaboratively in the provincial administrations of Argentina. One of its main lines of work is the development of work skills and public-private administration for institutional strengthening through training programs. In this context, since April 20, the Federal Training Program on Integrated Water Resources Management has been developed in which ECLAC, through the Water team of the NRD, Water and Energy Unit, participated in charge of class 2 on Water Governance.
The class began with the intervention of the economist and official ECLAC consultant Lisbeth Naranjo, who established the current context of water resources in LAC to give way to the concept of water governance and the importance of efficiency in its establishment to overcome the challenges of the region.
Subsequently, Dr Silvia Saravia Matus, economic affairs officer in charge of the Water Team at ECLAC, presented the progress of the SDGs in the region, emphasizing those related to water governance, and highlighted the need to redouble efforts to meet the targets of SDG 6. In this regard, Silvia presented the acceleration framework for fulfilling the goals mentioned above, emphasizing the role of governance and, in this area, the need to strengthen regulatory and normative frameworks, the water authority and the consideration of supranational governance. Finally, Silvia ended her session by highlighting the work of ECLAC to establish efficient governance.
Next, Natalia Sarmanto, an economist expert in sustainability and consultant for the Water and Energy Unit, explained the relationship between gender and water governance based on the study presented by ECLAC last December entitled, “Gaps, challenges and opportunities in water and gender in Latin America and the Caribbean”. Natalia thus introduced the analysis carried out on policies that address the water and gender problems of the region's countries concerning the gaps in access and infrastructure to water and sanitation, agricultural productivity, water management and collection, and finally, highlighting the governance and participation gap.
The lesson ended with the presentation of the Nexus approach as a tool for establishing efficient governance. This session was in charge of the engineer and consultant also for the water team, Alba Llavona, who introduced the Nexus concept and the work that ECLAC has been doing to implement this approach in policies, plans, programs and projects. The Methodological guide developed by ECLAC for the application of the Nexus approach was presented here, as well as the case studies of multisectoral actions in the region, highlighting the governance lessons that were extracted from the analysis of the National Basin Plan of Bolivia and the reservoir projects Baba multipurpose dam (Ecuador) and Misicuni (Bolivia).
