The State Secretary for International Cooperation, Eva Granados, today presented the Spanish Platform for cooperation in water, sanitation and hygiene (PECASH). She did so during the meeting at which the network, which aims to connect the different actors in the sector and promote the exchange and learning of experiences, was presented. More than 600 people and entities have joined this initiative of Spanish Cooperation, which aims to generate alliances to enhance the impact of its actions in the recipient population.
The event, which was held at the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), was attended by more than 200 people from different parts of Spain, representing decentralised cooperation —both from city councils and autonomous communities—, civil society, the private sector, universities and public enterprises.
During her presentation, Granados highlighted “the strategic opportunity of this Platform to become a network of networks, connecting and boosting alliances of different initiatives, actors and institutions already working in this field: from the key role of AECID to the indispensable participation of decentralised cooperation, NGDOs and the business private sector”.
Following the address by the State Secretary, the Directorate General of Water of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge presented the initiative for launching the Spanish Water Partnership, within which PECASH is framed as a specific platform of cooperation for sustainable development.
For her part, the head of the AECID's Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation Department, Emma Orejudo, pointed out the importance of working in alliances, ensuring that every drop, however small, contributes to the achievement of the goals, driving progress towards SDG 6: “Clean water and sanitation”. This Fund is one of the flagship programmes of Spanish Cooperation. Since its inception in 2009 and until 2023 it has helped 4,454,635 people gain access to water and better sanitation.
In addition, the event saw the participation of representatives from the different sectors that are part of the Platform. They shared their expectations for it and also, in a space devoted to describing how the Platform works, short-term proposals and the next steps to be taken.
Alliances for governance
The PECASH Platform is a place to bring together different actors. Hence, a specific space was dedicated to sharing the different experiences of entities that have already been working in alliances, with the aim of boosting synergies and projecting a united voice in the international water agenda.
This session focused on the issue of water governance, taking advantage of the presence of the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to water and sanitation, Pedro Arrojo, who made an initial intervention on the challenge of democratic governance of this vital liquid.
There was also a panel of experiences in which various initiatives were presented, such as the Euskadi-Central America inter-institutional cooperation on water and sanitation; the experience of the ‘Alliances for Fair and Sustainable Governance in southern Lebanon’, or the engineering projects for human development in the school of Paracas, in Peru, in which various entities have participated, among others.
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