PRINWASS

We just had our Second Project Workshop, that took place on 31 March - 1 April 2003 in Mexico City and was hosted by PRINWASS' Mexican partner, the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). The event was jointly organized by Dr María Luisa Torregrosa, coordinator of the FLACSO Mexico Team, and Dr José Esteban Castro, PRINWASS general coordinator. PRINWASS has now entered the Second Phase of the project tasks, and we are now polishing the case study reports, which were discussed by the partners at the Workshop. In the meeting we also set the agenda for the incoming months, and we are now working on the cross-comparative analyses that draw on the case studies. These reports will cast light on the main trends and continuities identified in the case studies with regard to the conditions and challenges characterizing private sector participation in the management of water and sanitation services, covering six thematic areas:

Environmental Sustainability;
Demo-geographic Trends and Urban Development;
Water Infrastructure and Technology;
Legal and Institutional Aspects and Water Sector Trends;
Economic and Financial Aspects;
Social, Political and Cultural Aspects.

We plan to make some of the project reports (i.e. theoretical debate, case studies, cross-comparative analyses, etc.) available by request. A web page will be created in the project's web site in due time for this purpose. We will welcome feed back and comments, which can be sent to the project coordination's contact address provided in the relevant web page.

Inmediately after the internal workshop, We had our Second PRINWASS International Conference, which featured a very diverse list of speakers from the public and private sectors, academy, NGOs, and different sectors of civil society. The Conference promoted a lively debate, and was an excellent example of a forum for open discussion where actors with often extremely antagonic positions were able to put forward their arguments and also be exposed to rival views in a highly civilized fashion. In particular, user groups, women organizations, environmental NGOs, citizen associations, peasant movements, and other grassroot social groups had an opportunity to challenge and discuss on an equal footing with government officials, water business representatives, and academics. Most presentations and papers, including a transcription of the debates, will be available in the relevant web page.

During the internal workshop it was decided that the Third and last Project Workshop and International Conference will take place in the city of Lisbon, probably in late April or early May 2004. The event will be hosted by the Portuguese partner, coordinated by José Luis García from the University of Lisbon, and all relevant information about these events will be available in this web site in due time (look in Activities).

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New Partnerships

PRINWASS continued to establish new partnerships with academic institutions, NGOs, and public and private sector organizations, including:

Ministério das Cidades, Secretaria Nacional de Saneamiento Ambiental (Ministry of Cities, National Secretary of Environmental Sanitation), Brazil.

Contact person: National Secretary Abelardo de Oliveira Filho.

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Associação Nacional dos Serviços Municipais de Saneamiento (ASSEMAE) (National Association of Municipal Sanitation Services), Brazil

Contact person: President Antônio da Costa Miranda Neto.

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Departamento Municipal De Água E Esgotos (DMAE) (Municipal Water and Sanitation Department), Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Contact person: Head Director Eng. Carlos Atílio Todeschini

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Secretaria de Saneamiento (Secretary of Sanitation), Prefeitura do Recife, Recife, Pernanbuco, Brazil.

Contact persons:

Secretario: Antônio da Costa Miranda Neto.

General Director of Inter-sector and Community Links: Hermelinda Rocha.

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Inter-American Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (AIDIS), Uruguay Branch, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Contact person: Eng. Daniel Greif.

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International Institute for Law and the Environment, Madrid, Spain.

Contact person: President Dr. Ana Barreira.

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Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, Oakland, Ca., USA.

Contact person: Principal Economist and Engineer Dr. Gary Wolff.

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Public Citizen, International Water Working Group and U.S. Water for All Campaign, Washington DC, USA.

Contact person Dr. Sara Grusky.

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Unión de Usuarios y Consumidores (Union of Users and Consumers)

Paraná 326 - 9th, Office 34

1017 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Contact person Lic Américo García.

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Sindicato Obras Sanitarias de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (Sanitation Works Union, Province of Buenos Aires), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Calle 48, 319

1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Contact person Mr. Guillermo Tomás Amorebieta y Vera.

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Programa Agua, Medio Ambiente y Sociedad (Programme Water, Environment, and Society), El Colegio de México, Mexico City.

Contact person: Director Dr. Fernando Tudela.

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Consejo Consultivo del Agua (Water Consultative Council),

Campos Elíseos 400, 19th, Colonia Lomas de Chapultepec, 11000 Mexico City.

Contact: Secretary.

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Asociación Nacional de Empresas de Agua y Saneamiento de México A.C. (ANEAS) (National Association of Water and Sanitation Companies of Mexico), Mexico City

Contact: Secretary.

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Subsecretaría de Fomento y Normatividad Ambiental, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), (Under-secretary of Development and Environmental Regulation, Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico City

Contact: Co-ordinator of AdvisorsLic. Linda Peña-Alfaro G.

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Programa Universitario para Estudios de la Ciudad (PUEC) (University Programme for City Studies, at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Contact person: Director Dr Manuel Perló Cohen.

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News from the Oxford University Team

The Oxford Team continued with its own research and teaching tasks. The team is being reinforced now with the incorporation on a part-time basis of Mr Andreas Thiel, who is develeping doctoral studies at Oxford Brookes University on the topic of water management and planning in Portugal. Given the nature of his topic, he will also be collaborating closely with the University of Lisbon Team. Welcome to PRINWASS Andreas!

Dr José Esteban Castro participated in a series of relevant meetings:

International Conference Landscapes of Water: History, Innovation and Sustainable Design, Monopoli (Bari), 26-29 September 2002.

Meeting of the Advisory Council of the Oxford Centre for Mexican Studies, composed by representatives of the Mexican and British business communities, public sector, academy, and civil society. Coordination of the session on water and sanitation policy. University of Oxford, 11 November 2002.

III Congreso Ibérico Sobre Gestión y Planificación del Agua “La Directiva Marco del Agua: realidades y futuros”, (III Iberian Congress on Water Management and Planning "The Water Framework Directive: realities and future"), Seville, 13-17 November 2002.

Discussant at a workshop on “Regulation and Regulators in Emerging Countries”, organized by the Directorate of Infrastructure and Urban Development, Agence Française de Développement, Paris, 21 November 2002.

“Stakeholder Meeting”, organized by Vivendi Environnement – United Kingdom, London, 11 December 2002.

“Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation”, Conference on Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries, Institute for Public Policy Research – Thames Water Ltd., London, 12 February 2003.

Meeting of the Advisory Council of the Oxford Centre for Mexican Studies, composed by representatives of the Mexican and British business communities, public sector, academy, and civil society. Coordination of the session on water and sanitation policy. Mexico City, 25 March 2003.

He also presented papers at the following events:

"La promoción de la participación privada en los servicios de agua y saneamiento: un examen del modelo dominante" (The promotion of private participation in water and sanitation services: an examination of the dominant model), at the Seminar Water for all - Quality of Public Service with Social Control organized by the Departamento Municipal de Aguas e Esgotos (DMAE), Prefeitura Municipal de Porto Alegre during the World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 27-28 January 2003.

"'Civil society' and the regulation of water and sanitation services: some lessons from ongoing research", during the Session on Water Supply and Sanitation: Achieving Poverty Reduction through Public-Private Partnership, convened by the Agence Française de Développement at the Third World Water Forum, Kyoto, Shiga, and Osaka, Japan, 16-23 March 2003.

"Governance for development? Some reflections on the governance of urban water systems", in Integrating Development and the Environment: Emerging Issues and New Developments, seminar series organized by the International Development Centre at Queen Elizabeth House and the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, QEH, 4 November 2002.

"Liquid citizenship: social struggles over water in Argentina, Bolivia, and Mexico", during the Session on Social Movements in Latin America: Experiences, Problems, and the Potential for Networking beyond State Boundaries, at the 2003 Annual Conference of the Society for Latin American Studies, University of Manchester (UK), 11-13 April 2003.

Dr Castro has also produced several publications in this period:

"Democratizing partnerships? Some reflections on the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development", (brief note) Bulletin of the Development Planning Unit, University College London (December 2002).

"Urban water and the politics of citizenship: the case of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (1980s-1990s)", Environment and Planning A (submitted June 2002, accepted for publication October 2002, forthcoming 2003).

"Incertezas manufacturadas, tecnociência e as políticas da desigualdade: o caso da gestão dos recursos hidráulicos", in J. L. García and H. Martins (eds.), Dilemas da Civilizacao Tecnológica, University of Lisbon (forthcoming, 2003).

Entries on “drinking water”, “water-borne diseases”, “water user associations”, “water management”, “rainwater harvesting”, “citizenship”, and “Zapatistas”, in T. Forsyth (ed.), Encyclopedia of International Development, London: Routledge (forthcoming 2003).

"London: structural continuities and institutional change in water management", jointly with E. Swyngedouw, E.. M Kaika, in European Planning Studies, Special issue on “Water for the city: trends, policy issues and the challenge of sustainability”, Vol. 11, #3 (forthcoming, April 2003).

"Ciudadanía y gobernabilidad en la cuenca del Río Bravo-Grande" (Citizenship and governance in the Rio Bravo-Grande basin), with Karina Kloster, Isabel Studer, and María Luisa Torregrosa, chapter in Problemas y Ventajas de la Participación Ciudadana en el Manejo del Agua: el Caso del Río Bravo (Problems and Advantages of Citizen Participation in Water Management), México DF: Academia Mexicana de Ciencias (forthcoming. 2003).

Regarding teaching activities relevant to the project, Dr Castro has delivered a series of lectures and courses, including:

"The sociology and politics of water management", at the MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management, Environment Change Institute, University of Oxford, 3 March 2003.

"Sustainable development: definitions and ongoing debates", Lecture given at the M.Phil Programme in Development Studies, International Development Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, 12 March 2003.

He is also the organizer of "Water management: an interdisciplinary approach",a full-term course (8 lectures and workshops) within the MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, April-June 2003. The course features both local and external lecturers and covers the following topics:

Session I- Dr José Esteban Castro (Oxford), "Introduction: mainstream debates and key problems regarding water and development"

Session II- Dr Maria Kaika (Oxford), "Water management and environmental protection"

Session III– Dr Ben Page (University College London), "The meaning of water"

Session IV– Dr Erik Swyngedouw (Oxford), "The political ecology of water: Spain"

Session V– Prof. Mike Edmunds (Oxford), "Water: scientific underpinnings of policy issues"

Session VI- Dr Karen Bakker (University of British Columbia, Canada), "Water supply: privatization and commodification"

Session VII– Dr Erik Swyngedouw (Oxford), "The political ecology of water: Ecuador"

Session VIII– Dr José Esteban Castro (Oxford), "Water: issues of governance and citizenship"

Castro is also in charge of developing and implementing a teaching and research programme on “Water in Mexico” (2003-2008), at the Centre for Mexican Studies, University of Oxford.

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News from the Tampere University of Technology Team (Finland)

Osmo Seppälä, from the Tampere University of Technology team (CADWAS) is co-ordinating, jointly with Dr Marcelo Coutinho Vargas (Universidade de São Carlos Team), the "Cross-comparative Report on Legal and Institutional Aspects and Water Sector Trends" (D19), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

Mr Seppälä has also been participating in another European Commission project, AQUALIBRIUM, which is an accompanying measure within the INCO-EESD programme of the 5th Framework Programme. AQUALIBRIUM project deals with “European Water Management between Regulation and Competition”. It aims at giving an overview on the current debates and analyses the various models of involvement and co-operation between the public and the private sector in all European Union member states. Mr Seppälä prepared the Country Report for Finland and participated in the Expert Workshop in Berlin, Germany, 15-17 November 2002.

Pekka Pietilä has been working on a short-time basis in Namibia in a project aimed at strengthening the administration of newly created municipalities. As part of the ongoing decentralization process in the country, responsibility for water distribution has been shifted to the municipalities, and this is the main focus of Mr Pietilä's work there. The project is very much in line with his overall research interests on the role played by municipalities in the management of water services.

Jarmo Hukka and Tapio Katko presented a paper on "Municipal or private ownership of water works? History of Water: Lessons to learn", at the Third World Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan, 17 March 2003.

Members of the Team have also published several articles in national and international journals:

Hukka, J., Katko, T., Mattila, H., Asheesh, M., Pietilä, P. and Seppälä, O. 2002. Vesihuollon instituutiot elävät muutosten aikaa (Water management institutions in a time of change), Vesitalous, Vol. 43, No. 1. pp. 16-18.

Hukka, J. and Katko, T. 2002. Kunta herrana talossaan – vai yksityinen pääoma? (Municipalities mastering their house – or private capital?) Tekniikka ja Kunta, Vol. 26, No. 4. pp. 46-47.

Seppälä, O. 2002. Effective water and sanitation policy reform implementation: need for systemic approach and stakeholder participation. Water Policy, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 367-388.

Katko T., Juuti P. & Hukka J. 2002. "An early attempt to privatise - any lessons learnt?", Research and technical note. Water International, Vol. 27, no. 2. pp. 294-297. (U.S.A.).

Hukka J.J. & Katko T.S. 2003. Refuting the paradigm of water services privatization. Natural Resources Forum, Special issue on the freshwater challenge: providing for people and ecosystems. Vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 142-155. (U.S.A.).

Katko T. 2003 (forthcoming). Book review: Blue Gold. Natural Resources Forum, UN. (U.S.A).

Katko T. 2002. Turning points in water supply and sanitation. Vesitalous, Vol. 42, no. 5. pp. 23-28. (In Finnish, Abstract in English).

The TUT team TUT is also a partner of the European Commission-funded project WATERTIME.

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News from the University of the Aegean Team (Greece)

Giorgos Kallis from the University of the Aegean Team is co-ordinating the "Cross-comparative Report on Environmental Sustainability" (D15), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

The team is also assistant co-ordinator of the EC-funded research project “Integrated evaluation for sustainable river basin governance (ADVISOR)” Evk1-ct-2000-00074. The objective of the project is to provide the EU with an operational framework and procedure for the integrated and participatory evaluation of large hydraulic projects in the context of implementation of the Water Framework directive and the establishment of river basin authorities and plans. At a first stage, this includes a critical analysis of how project evaluation works in practice in the participating countries presently. The analysis will reveal the shortcomings especially with reference to socially contested and conflicting decisions. At a second level, each research partner will work at the ground level to test and develop a methodology which will facilitate an integrated, multi-dimensional evaluation of a project fostering stakeholders' participation and consensus. The results will be synthesised in terms of guidelines and a software toolkit with useful evaluation methods.

Giorgos has obtained his doctoral degree in March 2003, with a thesis on "Institutions and Sustainable Urban Water Management: the Case of Athens". An abstract and a list of contents of his dissertation are available from the documents' web page (the thesis is only in Greek at the moment).

Members of the Team have also published several articles:

Kallis G., and H.Coccossis (2003), "Managing water for Athens: from the hydraulic to the rational growth paradigm", European Planning Studies, 11(3), April 2003.

Kallis G., and H.Coccossis (2002), "Sustainable Management of Water Supplies for Developed Urban Areas: issues, perspectives and a vision", Proceedings of the Third International Forum on “Integrated Water Management: the Key to Sustainable Water Resources”, Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company, Zappeion Hall, Athens, 21-22 March 2002

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News from the Newcastle-CESU Team (UK-Bolivia)

Dr Nina Laurie, who leads the Newcastle-CESU Team is coordinating, jointly with José Esteban castro (Oxford University Team), the "Cross-comparative Report on Social, Political, and Cultural Aspects" (D21), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

Members of Team have also participated in a number of relevant activities, including:

The organization of a workshop in May 2003 to define action strategies for the city's water utility with a view to strenghten it as a publicly owned and managed enterprise.

Carlos Crespo, a member of PRINWASS Cochabamba, is coordinating a national workshop with peasant irrigators that will take place on 23-24 May. The event is aimed at supporting the irrigators in their debates to design a strategy for resisting the commodification and privatization policies being introduced by the federal government.

The team is part of the Commission for Integral Water Management (CGIAB), a national institutional network including NGO's, research centers, and government institutions, aimed to promote consensus building in Bolivian water policy. CGIAB's Web Page is one of the best information sources on Bolivian water issues, and the Team has published some papers from a previous research project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in this web site.

Carlos Crespo provides technical support to the representative of the Souther Zone of Cochabamba’s water utility SEMAPA.

He also provides advice to FEDECOR, the irrigators’ organization, in the negotiation process with the government on irrigation norms and the new water legislation.

The local group has also been developing joint activities with Dr Manuel de Lafuente, co-ordinator of the Planning and Management Center (CEPLAG) at the University of San Simón. CEPLAG is funded through a cooperation agreement with the Belgian government, and the joint activities include the organization of academic events and developing new research on water issues.

The team has helped to establish a new network in the UK (November 2002), the Centre for Water and Governance (WAG) Newcastle University (currently under review for funding by the Environmental and Social Research Council [ESRC] of the UK government -2003-2012- £2.5 million). This interdisciplinary centre draws on scholars from civil engineering and the social sciences. It has an international focus on countries in the North and the South and provides a forum for academics to dialogue with the State, NGO, and private sector organisations in the UK and elsewhere. WAG's thematic research areas are: the politics of scarcity, water equity, regionalisation and water management, water quality, water privatisation, water economics. Nina Laurie and Carlos Crespo belong to the water privatization theme, which Nina directs, and she is also responsible for gender analysis across all six themes.

They have also been very active in internaitonal activities:

Nina Laurie was awarded the "International Council Distinguished Visiting Professor of Geography at the University of Illinois (2002-2003)". A key element of this award is to liaise with colleagues on water issues. She has developed close links with colleagues in the planning department (Dr Faranak Mirtba) and environmental sciences (Dr Ken Salo) working on the privatisation of utilities in South Africa as well as with a colleague (Dr Michael Goldman) working on an ethnography of the World Bank with respect to the ‘greening of the Bank’ and water politics.

Presentation by Nina Laurie on "Multi-ethnic reform and water politics in Bolivia" in the Departmental Seminar Series, Department of Geography, University of Illinois, USA, October 2002.

Presentation by Nina Laurie on "A Tale of two camps: The future of human and Physical Geography interaction – a focus on water research", at the Annual Critical Geography Conference University of Kentucky, USA November 2002

Carlos Crespo's presentation on "Inequity in access to and use of water resources and privatisation of utilities in Cochabamba", at the MSc degree in Planning and Development, Oxford: Oxford Brookes University, UK.

In December 2002, Carlos Crespo spent one week with the Oxford University team coordinating current project tasks and planning future activities. He also visited Buenos Aires to meet PRINWASS' Argentinean teams, and he made a presentation on the water conflict in the city of Cochabamba (Bolivia) at the University of Buenos Aires. Afterwards there was an exchange of experiences based on the Argentinean case studies (December 2002).

Carlos Crespo's presentation on "Inequity in access to and use of water resources and privatisation of utilities in Cochabamba", at the MSc degree in Planning and Development, Oxford: Oxford Brookes University, UK.

Members of the Team have also produced several publications:

Laurie, Nina, Sarah Radcliffe, and Robert Andolina (2002), “The new excluded ‘indigenous’?: The implications of multi-ethnic policies for water reform in Bolivia”, in R. Seider (ed.) Pluri-Cultural and Multi-Ethnic Implications for State and Society in Mesoamerica and the Andes, London: Palgrave (formerly Macmillan).

Radcliffe, Sarah, Robert Andolina, and Nina Laurie (2002), “Production of states and deterritorialised spaces: indigenous movements and transnational linkages in the Andes”, in Space and Polity 6 (3).

Crespo, Carlos (forthcoming, 2003), “Management of differences and equity in the Bolivian Structural Adjustment and the Water Supply Regulations”, in Roger Zetter (ed) Public Policies and Participation in Developing Countries.

Crespo, Carlos (forthcoming 2003), “Manejo jerárquico de las diferencias y biopolítica en el enfoque ‘Pro-Poor’ del agua y saneamiento”, in Tania Ricaldi (ed) Ecologia Humana y Educación, La Paz: PLURAL-UNESCO.

The Team also contributed to a bulletin for dissemination on "The irrigators participation in the Water War", Cochabamba: CESU and Cochabamba's Irrigators Federation (FEDECOR), August 2002.

In January 2003, Carlos Crespo obtained his PhD at Oxford Brookes University (UK). His thesis focuses on Cochabamba's Water War.

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News from the Federal University of São Carlos Team (Brazil)

Dr Marcelo Vargas, head of the Brazilian Team is collaborating with Osmo Seppälä (Tampere University of Technology Team) in the cordination of the "Cross-comparative Report on Legal and Institutional Aspects and Water Sector Trends" (D19), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

Dr. Vargas participated at the 1st Meeting of Brazil’s National Association of Research and Post-Graduate Studies on Environment and Society (ANPPAS) which took place in Campinas, on 6-9 November 2002. He presented a paper on the "Social Perception of Water Services and Resources", which contained empirical and theoretical results from a recently completed research project in the Piracicaba River on basin. This research project, which involved an interdisciplinary team of sociologists, environmental engineers, and statisticians, was coordinated by Dr. Vargas and financed by the FAPESP (São Paulo State Foundation for the Development of Science) during the last two years. The results will be published as a book in 2004. The paper presented at the ANPPAS meeting was discussed in a workshop of the Water Resources Research Group recently organized inside this association, which gathers researchers from different scientific fields in an effort to think about water problems on a new integrated and interdisciplinary approach.

After having concluded his Masters degree thesis on "The Social and Economic Impacts of the Restructuring of Brazil's Electricity Sector" in October 2002, Alessandro Leme, who was a member of the PRINWASS Brazilian team during the First Phase, was admitted at the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP).

Roberval Francisco de Lima, another colaborator of the Brazilian team, has just presented his Masters thesis on "Water and Sanitation Services in Limeira: private management and social exclusion", on 24 April 2003. In this work, developed under the supervision of Dr. Vargas, he analysed the social and economic consequences of the concession of Limeira’s water and sanitation services (one of PRINWASS local case studies) to a private consortium led by Lyonnaise des Eaux. The study points out some problems related to the provision of these services in the poorest neighbourhoods and also deals with some regulatory failures identified in the institutional framework of this concession.

Dr. Ricardo Toledo Silva, who has been informally collaborating with the PRINWASS' Brazilian Team since the project's inception, has been nominated Director of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at São Paulo University from January 2003.

Dr Vargas has also produced the following publication:

"Desafios da transição para o mercado regulado no setor de saneamento" (Challenges of transition for the regulated market in the sanitation sector), in V. S. TELLES (Coord.), Cidade, Serviços e Cidadania, Chapter 2, Lumem Juris, 2002.

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News from the Higher University of San Simón Team (Cochabamba, Bolivia)

The local team, coordinated by Dr Carmen Ledo, has been working closely with the Newcastle team in the elaboration of the Bolivian case study of Cochabamba. Carmen has been also liaising with Manuel de La Fuente, who is the co-ordinator of the Planning and Management Center (CEPLAG) at San Simón, an institution funded by the Belgian co-operation programme. She is also contributing to the co-ordination of the "Cross-comparative Report on Economic and Financial Aspects" (D20), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

Carmen Ledo has participated in a number of relevant meetings in this period, including:

A series of debates on the current process to define the new role of Cochabamba's water utility SEMAPA, jointly with the Director of SEMAPA Sur, Mr Luis Sanches, and a team of academics that include Dr Tom Kruse and other researchers, Cochabamba, November-December 2002.

Several Workshops organized by representatives of San Simon University and La Cordinadora (Cochabamba's long-standing water users organization) about the current process of privatization of public utilities, August-December 2002.

Workshop on "Simulation of Complex Systems, Multi-Agent Systems and Natural Resources Management", 20 January– 5 February 2003, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Seminar on "Globalization, Privatization and Poor Women's Right to Water", World Social Forum, in collaboration with the International Gender and Trade Network and UNIFEM, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 25 to 28 January 2003.

Workshop on "The Role of the State in the Struggle against Poverty", CROP/CLACSO/FJN, Recife, Brazil, 19-21 March 2003.

She has also been participating in a number of initiatives and organizations, including:

"Negowat: Facilitating negotiations over Land and water conflicts in Latin-American periurban upstream catchmentS: Combining multi-agent modelling with role game playing".

"Commission for Integral Water Management (CGIAB)", a national institutional network, which includes NGO's, research centers, and government institutions, aimed to promote consensus building in the design of water policies in Bolivia. CGIAB's Web Page is one of the best information sources on Bolivian water issues.

She also contributes as a technical adviser on water policy to organizations of poor neighbourhoods in the south of Cochabamba.

Dr Ledo has also produced several publications:

Urbanisation and Poverty in the Cities of the National Economic Corridor in Bolivia. Case Study: Cochabamba, ISBN 90-407-2306-0, Delft: Delft University Press (DUP), 2002.

"Down but not out in Bolivia", Delta, 2002, Vol 34, Issue 21.
with Roberto Laserna, Daniel Moreno, and Miguel Villarroel (2002), Pobreza, Expectativas y Esfuerzo Laboral. Un Estudio Exploratorio, Cuadernos de Desarrollo Humano Sostenible, Cochabamba: Centro de Estudios de la Realidad Economica y Social (CERES), August 2002.

Finally, she has also been very active in relevant teaching activities within the Masters Programmes and other regular teaching activities (e.g. tutorial teaching, interviews with students working on water issues, etc.) in the faculties of Economics and Sociology at San Simon University. She has also given several courses in other institutions, including:

Full-term course on “Methods of Qualitative and Quantitative Research”, MSc in Management and Development, Project of Improvement of the Formation in Economy – PROMEC –Tilburg, Utrecht and Wagenigen Universities and MHO Program, The Netherlands, November-December 2002.

MSc in Intercultural and Bilingual Education (International Andean area), GTZ and San Simon University, Cochabamba, November 2002.

International Courses for the Capacity Building Programme for Improving Social and Housing Aspects (PROMESHA) (Programa de capacitación para el Mejoramiento Socio-Habitacional). The course is targeted to planners, architects, engineers, economists and lawyers working for central government, municipalities and non-governmental organizations. The courses are also meant for university teachers responsible for training planners, architects and engineers. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Lund University and San Simon University.

National Intensive Training in Demographic Analysis “Bolivia: training of human resources to use data from the Population and Housing Census 2001", Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Center (CELADE / ECLAC), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), National Institute of Statistics (INE), and Center for Population Studies (CEP – UMSS), Cochabamba, 23 September - 20 December 2002.

"Economic and Social Human Rights in Bolivia", The People's Defender, National Report on Human Rights in Bolivia, La Paz, September 2002.

"State of the Redistribution of the Bolivian Population by the year 2000", Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Center (CELADE / ECLAC), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Vice-Ministry of Strategic Planning and Popular Participation - Area of Population Policy (APP), La Paz, 2002.

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News from the National University of Buenos Aires Team

The team, led by Prof. Juan Carlos Marín, has been working in close interaction with the other Argentinean teams at FLACSO, UNAM, and UNGS in developing the local case study. They have been also very active in contributing to the project's activities and deliverables during the First Phase of the Project, which are described above in the Coordination's report of activities.

The team has been developing the local case study looking at three experiences of private enterprise participation in the management and control of the water and sanitation services. Two of these cases (Tucuman and Buenos Aires) have been considered with greater extension and depth, while the third (the conflict surrounding the privatized water utility in the province of Santa Fe) was included as the research progressed in the second semester of 2002 and, in consequence, has a lower degree of extension and depth. The inclusion of the Santa Fe experience will enable to broaden the comparative framework originally designed for the Argentinean case study, and to reinforce empirically the analysis of the conditions and obstacles met by the private enterprise participation in Argentina.

The team has also made contributions to the documents D1, D2, and D3 described earlier, and has produced a Spanish Translation of D1 and D2. Also, Emilio Crenzel and Gustavo Forte, jointly with Andrea Catenazzi from the UNGS team, are co-ordinating the "Cross-comparative Report on Demo-geographic Trends and Urban Development" (D17), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

Members of the team have also participated at relevant events with academics, water users, public authorities, practitioners, and private sector representatives:

Emilio Crenzel also participated in the Round Table "Water in the Twenty-first Century", which featured among other speakers Engineer Victor Pochat, Under-Secretary of National Water Resources, Lic. Daniel Barrera, from the Atmosphere and Oceans Science Department at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), and Navy Engineer Roberto Oscar Rodríguez, that took place at the University Campus of the National Technological University, 24 October 2002.

Members of the team participated in the Second Meeting of the Provincial Assembly for the Right to Water, Rosario, Santa Fe, 2 November 2002.

They also participated in the workshop "Renegotiation of the Contracts of the Privatized Public Services and the Social Tariff", organized by the National University of General Sarmiento team (see below), Buenos Aires, Institute of the Conurbated Area, National University of General Sarmiento, 21 November 2002.

They also contributed to a meeting on "Conflict awareness regarding water issues", in the province of Santa Fe, held by representatives of the Provincial Assembly for the Right to Water, which was joined by Users’ organisations, community assemblies, and political organisations, and took place at the headquarters of the National Front Against Poverty (FRENAPO), Buenos Aires, 22 November 2002.

The team continued to incorporate during the whole of the First Phase of the Project four students who are in the final stages of their undergraduate studies in Sociology (at the University of Buenos Aires the BA in Sociology is a 4-5 year course). The students, Ms Verónica Pérez, Ms Clarisa Bottor, Mr Julio Iturburu, and Ms Laura Bernasconi, have been receiving training in research techniques and been paid for their work. Also, Ms Paula Binder, student at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tucumán, contributed with interviews and data collection on the technological, infrastructural, and environmental conditions of the water and sanitation sector in this province, as part of the local case study.

Finally, The team has been following up the situation created by the financial crisis of December 2001, wgich continues to delay the release of the funds allocated through the Triennial Subsidy from the "Agency for Technology, Science and Productive Innovation" (within the "V Framework Programme of Co-operation with the European Union").

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News from the FLACSO Argentina Team

The FLACSO Argentina team is now coordinating, with the support of Carmen Ledo from San Simón University,the "Cross-comparative Report on Economic and Financial Aspects" (D20), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

Lic. Azpiazu is also Director of the Research Project Privatization and Regulation in the Argentine Economy (No. 02360, Res. No. 792 June 2001, CONICET, 2001-03).

He is also Director of the Argentine research team in ECOS, a project funded by the Secretariat for Technology, Science, and Productive Innovation (Argentina) within the Technical Co-operation Programme with France (Code A01H01, 2001-03). ECOS is a comparative study of the management and evolution of water and sanitation services in Argentina and France, focusing on the problems and challenges derived from privatization and the need for the improvement of the mechanisms of control and regulation of these services.

The team has been directly participating in and monitoring the process of contract renegotiation between the national government and the company Aguas Argentinas S. A. The importance of this process exceeds the regulatory problems affecting the concession of the water and sanitation services in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan area, as the very continuity of the concession is being discussed. This possibility is supported by a number of user associations and increasingly by the Defensoría del Pueblo de la Nación [Watchdog of the Nation’s People]. Within this framework, the team has established fluid relationships with members of the official commission for the renegotiation, with user and consumer organizations, with the Defensoría del Pueblo de la Nación, with the regulatory body ETOSS, and with the Ente Unico de Regulación de los Servicios Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Unified Regulatory Body for Public Services in Buenos Aires City). This experience has been enriched by the ongoing collaboration between Lic. Daniel Azpiazu and Dr. Miguel Solanes, expert in regulatory matters at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Although the renegotiation has been mainly focused on tariff problems, there is a high probability that the debate will be extended to other areas of the concession, in particular to the problems arising from the original contract negotiation and the successive -and controversial- renegotiations that took place afterwards.

Members of the team have also participated at relevant meetings, including:

A public debate about the current process of contract renegotiation between the national government and the privatized public utilities, jointly with the economist Santiago Urbiztondo (Foundation for Latin American Economic Research), organized by the newspaper Página 12, December 2002.

Several Workshops organized by the Representatives of the Organizations of Users and Consumers about the current process of contract renegotiation between the national government and the privatized public utilities, throughout 2002.

Debates over the Plan Fénix, a space for the discussion of the current economic situation in Argentina and for developing guidelines for development public policies, hosted by the Faculty of Economics, University of Buenos Aires. Daniel Azpiazu, jointly with Eduardo Basualdo, coordinates the debate on the privatized infrastructure services.

Meetings for the elaboration of the Argentinean Workers Central Union (CTA)’s Proposal for the crisis: “Distributive shock, national autonomy, and democratization. A contribution towards overcoming the current crisis of Argentinean society”, presented before over 8000 members in the city of Mar del Plata, 12-13 December 2002.
Daniel Azpiazu and Karina Forcinito presented the paper "La privatización de los servicios de agua y saneamiento prestados por Obras Sanitarias de la Nación en el Area Metropolitana de Buenos Aires" (The privatization of water sanitation services formerly in the hands of Obras Sanitarias de La Nación in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area), in the session Transformaciones urbanas en las Américas: los desafíos de la administración del agua, Día de las Américas (Urban transformations in the Americas: the challenges of water administration. Day of the Americas), at the Third World Water Forum, Kyoto, Shiga, and Osaka, Japan, 19 March 2003.

Daniel Azpiazu delivers several courses on “development of infrastructure and industry services” at the following institutions:

Higher Studies in Political Economy, National University of Cuyo (Mendoza)-Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) (Buenos Aires)
Master Programme in Economic Sociology, National University of San Martín (Buenos Aires)
Master Programme in Economic Development, National Southern University (Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires)
National University of Río Cuarto (Córdoba)
National University of Rosario (Santa Fe)

Lic Azpiazu also is supervising a series of dissertations, including:

Arza, Camila, ongoing doctoral thesis “The privatization of public services in Argentina and its distributive impacts”. Co-supervised, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Argentina. The thesis is being developed and will be submitted at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Duarte, Marisa: "El impacto social de la reforma del Estado" (The social impact of the state’s reform), Master Thesis in Economic Sociology, Institute of Higher Social Studies, Nacional University of San Martín, completed December 2002.

Forcinito, Karina: "El rol del estado argentino en la reestructuración regresiva de la relación entre el capital y la fuerza de trabajo en los sectores de infraestructura privatizados durante los años noventa" (The role of the Argentinean state in the regressive restructuration of the relationship between capital and labour in the privatized infrastructure sector during the 1990s). Master Thesis in Social Science, with especialization in Politics, Latin American Faculty of Social Science (FLACSO), Argentina (ongoing).

Nahón, Carolina: "El papel de los entes reguladores en el proceso de privatizaciones en la Argentina. Problemas de diseño y de implementación" (The role of the regulators in the privatization process in Argentina. Problems of design and implementation). Master Thesis in Economic Sociology, Institute of Higher Social Studies, Nacional University of San Martín (ongoing).

Mazorra, Ximena: "Las privatizaciones argentinas y el rol de los sindicatos. Análisis de los ejemplos de telecomunicaciones, electricidad y aguas y saneamiento" (The Argentinean privatization and the role of the labour unions. An analysis of the cases of telecommunications, electricity, water , and sanitation). Master Thesis in Economic Sociology, Institute of Higher Social Studies, Nacional University of San Martín (ongoing).

Also, Karina Forcinito is actively engaged in the PRINWASS project, while completing her Master programme in Social Sciences.

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News from the National University of Misiones Team (UNAM-Argentina)

The team has carried out a first assessment of the situation of water and sanitation services in the Argentinean North-east. They have assessed the different water and sanitation systems operating in the four provinces (Chaco, Corrientes, Formosa and Misiones), including private and public (provincial) operators. The region is characterized by extreme situations derived from the reform of the state during the 1990s: while in the province of Corrientes the local company (Aguas de Corrientes) was privatized, in the province of Chaco the strong citizen resistance against privatization led to the creation of the Water and Maintenance System – Provincial State Enterprise (SAMMEP). Also, they are examining the region’s many water co-operatives, especially in Chaco. Cooperative forms are a particularly useful organizational alternative for those areas that are not attractive for large water business (eg. owing to the small scale of the operation). The team is looking at the technical and social aspects of the services in the context of the local environmental conditions, paying particular attention to conflicts arising from public demands regarding water and sanitation services.

These activities also allowed the development of important institutional links, in particular: with Administración Provincial del Agua del Gobierno de la Provincia del Chaco (Provincial Water Administration, Chaco); Dirección de Cooperativas de la Provincia del Chaco (Directorate of Cooperatives, Chaco); Ente Nacional de Obras Hídricas de Saneamiento (ENOHSA) (National Entity for Water Sanitation Works); Secretaría de Obras Públicas, Presidencia de la Nación (Secretariat of Public Works, Federal Government); Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile (CIRPS), University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy.

Members of the team have also presented several papers in national and international events:

Roze, Jorge P., Marta Ceballos Acasuso, Lorena Sánchez, and Eduardo Butticé, "¿Públicos o privados? Los servicios de agua potable y saneamiento en el NEA" (Public or private? Water and sanitation services in the Argentinean Northeast), at the XXII Encuentro de Geohistoria Regional (XXII Meeting of Regional Geo-history), Institute for Geo-historical Research, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and Faculty of Natural Sciences, National University of La Plata, Resistencia, Chaco (Argentina), 4-5 October 2002. Published in the Meeting's Proceedings

Roze, Jorge P. “Cooperativas y expansión de territorios: entre la solidaridad y las leyes de la acumulación del capital” (Cooperatives and territorial expansion: between solidarity and the laws of capital accumulation), at the VI Seminario de la Red Iberoamericana de Investigadores sobre Globalización y Territorio (VI Seminar of the Ibero-American Network of Researchers on Globalization and Territory), Camagüey, Cuba, 27-29 November 2002 (Published in a CD ROM, ISBN: 959-16-0183-2).

Jorge Roze also participated in the workshop "Renegotiation of the Contracts of the Privatized Public Services and the Social Tariff", organized by the National University of General Sarmiento team (see below), Buenos Aires, Institute of the Conurbated Area, National University of General Sarmiento, 21 November 2002.

Lic. Marta Ceballos Acasuso, under the supervision of Dr Jorge P. Roze, is developing her doctoral research on “‘Innovation culture” and “skills management”: Socio-anthropological dimensions. The case of Aguas de Corrientes”, PhD in Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities, University of Buenos Aires. Her thesis is expected to make a substantial contribution to the local case study.

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News from the National University of General Sarmiento Team (UNGS-Argentina)

The team, coordinated by Arq. Andrea Catenazzi, is working closely with the other Argentinean teams, especially with the University of Buenos Aires group. In this regard, she is collaborating in the coordination of the "Cross-comparative Report on Demo-geographic Trends and Urban Development" (D17), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project.

The team also organized a local workshop on Renegociación de los Contratos de los Servicios Públicos Privatizados y Tarifa Social (Renegotiation of the Contracts of the Privatized Public Services and the Social Tariff), Buenos Aires, Institute of the Conurbated Area, National University of General Sarmiento, 21 November 2002.

The event provided an excellent opportunity for a debate between academics, public sector representatives (including state and local authorities), water regulators, the Citizens Defence Council (Buenos Aires watchdog), private operators, financial institutions, practitioners, students, NGOs, and user organizations. The proceedings will be published as a book during 2003.

Members of the team are also actively engaged in teaching activities at both undergraduate and graduate levels, including the supervision on dissertations on topics of urban ecology and urban management.

Andrea Catenazzi has produced several publications:

Cattenazzi, Andrea and G. Alsina (2002) (Co-ordinators) Diagnóstico Preliminar Ambiental del Municipio de Moreno (Preliminary Environmental Assessment of the Municipality of Moreno), Informe de Investigación Nº 13, General Sarmiento: ICO-UNGS.

Catenazzi, Andrea, D. Kullock, and N. Pierro (2002), “La privatización de los servicios de saneamiento en el Area Metropolitana de Buenos Aires” (Privatization of sanitation services in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area), in Bolay, Pedrazzini and Rabinovich (Eds.) Innovaciones Tecnológicas, Medio Ambiente Urbano y Disparidades Sociales en América Latina. Estudios de Casos en Argentina, Bolivia y Cuba (Technological Innovation, Urban Environment, and Social Disparities in Latin America. Case Studies from Argentina, Bolivia, and Cuba), Cahiers LaSUR 1.

Andrea Catenazzi has also presented several papers in international events:

"Situación habitacional y programas vinculados a la regularización dominial en el Area Metropolitana de Buenos Aires" (Housing and problems related to land tenancy in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area), at the Professional Training Workshop Mercados Informales: Regularización de la Tenencia de la Tierra y Programas de Mejoramiento Urbano (Professional Training Course on Informal Markets: Regularization of Land Tenancy and Programmes for Urban Improvement), Lincoln Institute, Cambridge (U.S.A.), 18-22 November 2002.

"Políticas de regularización dominial y coyuntura. Un balance crítico de las políticas públicas y las acciones colectivas en la década del noventa en el Area Metropolitana de Buenos Aires" (Policies of land tenancy regularization in the crossroads. A critical balance of public policy and collective action in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area during the 1990s", in Curso de Desarrollo Profesional sobre Mercados Informales: Regularización de la Tenencia de la Tierra y Programas de Mejoramiento Urbano (Professional Training Course on Informal Markets: Regularization of Land Tenancy and Programmes for Urban Improvement), Lincoln Institute, Cambridge (U.S.A.), 18-22 November 2002.

“La universalidad de los servicios de saneamiento frente a la mercantilización de la ciudad. El caso de Buenos Aires. 1991 – 2001” (Universality in sanitation services in a context of commodification of the city. The case of Buenos Aires, 1991-2001), at the Seminar Metrópoles: entre a Coesão e a Fragmentação, a Cooperação e o Conflito (Metropolis: between Cohesion and Fragmentation, Cooperation and Conflict), Río de Janeiro, Brazil, 5-9 August 2002.

“Experiencias educativas innovadoras en la formación de profesionales de la ciudad” (Innovative educational experiences in the training of urban professionals), at the Seminar Profesionales de la Ciudad (Urban Professionals), FAUUSP/FAPESP/PRO-REITORIA de PESQUISA/Programa MOST/UNESCO, São Paulo, Brazil, 26–29 June 2002.

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News from the FLACSO Mexico Team

The FLACSO Mexico Team, coordinated by Dr María Luisa Torregrosa, is coordinating the "Cross-comparative Report on Infrastructure and Technology" (D18), which forms part of the Second Phase of the project. The team is developing an analytical model for this study, and has engaged Dr Medardo Mesa, a water technology expert, to reinforce the interdisciplinary capabilities of the local team for carrying out this task.

The local team was also in charge of hosting the second Project Meeting and the Second International Conference. The team collaborated very closely with PRINWASS coordinator, Dr Esteban Castro, in the preparation and development of the two meetings, which were very successful as described above in the Coordinator’s Report.

The organization of these events contributed to the expansion and consolidation of the links with different public, private, and civil society organizations. These include the Federal Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the National Water Commission (CNA), the Water Commission of the Valley of Mexico (CAVM), the General Directorate of Hydraulic Works (DGCOH) (the last two compose now the Water System of Mexico City [SAVM]), and the Hydraulic Commission of the Federal Lower Chamber. Also, new links were developed with:

Private operators such as Aguascalientes Water Concessionaire (CAASA), Aguas de Saltillo, Aguas de México, IASA-TECSA, and SAPSA – SIMA.

Academic institutions such as the Programme on Water, Society and Environment of El Colegio de México, headed by Dr Fernando Tudela, and the University Programme for City Studies (PUEC), at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), directed by Dr Manuel Perló.

Other public and civil society organizations such as the National Association of Water and Sanitation Companies (ANEAS), the Citizen Water Council, the Union of Environmental Groups, Citizen Presence A.C., and the Association of Saltillo Water Users (AUAS).

These links were not just related to the participation of these institutions in the Second International Conference, but also imply agreements of collaboration with regard to publications, project evaluation, organization of workshops and seminars, exchange of research experiences, information, development of research and action projects, etc.

Dr Torregrosa has also participated in relevant events, including:

The Forum Water for the Americas in the XXI Century, organized by the Nacional Water Comission of Mexico (8-11 October, 2002), which gathered governments, internacional organizations, experts, private companies, and NGOs to discuss future strategies for action in the water management sector. The meeting was intended to develop a Latin American contribution for the debates to be held in the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, 16-23 March 2003.

Forum on the "Asignación del Valor Económico del Agua" (Allocation of Water Economic Value), organized by the National Water Commission (CNA), Unit of Rural Programmes and Social Participation, Coordination of Basin Boards, Mexico City, 21-22 November 2002.

Dr Torregrosa also supervised a series of dissertations, including:

Alice Quiñones, who recently completed succesfully her Masters thesis on “The role of the water tariff as a mediating factor in the interaction between population and environment: the case of Milpa Alta in Mexico City".

Gabriel Cosío, B.A. in Sociology, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, National Autonomous University of México, on "Cultural aspects of water: indigenous communities vs modernization of the water utilities" (jointly supervised with Karina Kloster).

Christian Lenin Ruiz, B.A. in Sociology, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, National Autonomous University of México, on "Private management of water in the Federal District" (jointly supervised with Karina Kloster).

She also supervised the work of a visiting French student, Vincent Leguen, from the Institut Supérieur des Techniques d’Outre-Mer (ISTOM), International Agro-Economics School, Paris, France, who is working on a thesis about "the role of transnational companies in water management in Aguascalientes, Mexico".

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Last updated: June 2017