OTHER PROGRAMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FUND
In addition to the Water Fund programs in Peru, the sectoral cooperation project Articulation and Design of Phase II of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Program for the Rural Amazon is currently underway, the agreement for which was signed in November 2022 and will begin to be implemented in February 2023. The objective of this intervention is to prepare pre-investment studies for more than 50 rural water and sanitation projects in five regions of the Department of Amazonas.
COUNTRY CONTEXT
Peru has an important reserve of water resources. Still, the distribution is very unequal, as more than half of the population is located in the coastal zone, which is generally drier and more desert-like. In addition, there is a significant inequality between rural and urban areas regarding access to water and sanitation services. Thus, according to data from the JMP, a joint report by UNICEF and WHO, access to adequately treated water is 59% in urban areas but only 22% in rural areas. The same is true for sanitation, where the differences are even more significant.
The Fund has maintained an extensive presence in Peru since its inception, with four programs and a donation of almost 59 million euro, benefiting more than 95,000 people with access to drinking water and sanitation and close to 85,000 with treated wastewater. The interventions have had a strong rural character, promoting water and sanitation services to these areas, enabling the creation and strengthening of the Water Boards, and the introduction of basic sanitation units following national regulations, replacing latrines.
