Abstract
This chapter offers a much-needed discussion on alternatives to privatisation, drawing on experiences from Latin America. While there is widespread agreement that privatisation is not the answer to the historic problems that have plagued the water and sanitation sector, alternatives to privatisation are diverse ranging from state- to community-led initiatives. Focusing on case studies from Bolivia, Uruguay and Venezuela, I argue that there is no one-size-fits-all model and solutions to local water problems must be grounded in concrete realities and be appropriate to local contexts.
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Notes
- 1.
I have conducted fieldwork in Bolivia, Venezuela and Uruguay and throughout Latin America as a research associate with the Municipal Services Project (2008 to present, see www.municipalservicesproject.com). The latter work has included attending international meetings of the Red Vida, Latin America’s largest anti-privatisation network, in Cochabamba, Bolivia (August 2008), Cali, Colombia (May 2010) and Mexico City (October 2012), as well as the Alternative Water Forum in Marseilles, France (March 2013).
- 2.
See World Bank database: http://ppi.worldbank.org/explore/ppi_exploreSector.aspx?sectorID=4, date accessed 12 August 2014.
- 3.
In Colombia, the Friends of the Earth/CENSAT collected the number of signatures required by law but Congress refused to hold the referendum.
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Spronk, S. (2016). Alternatives to the Privatisation of Water and Sanitation Services: Lessons from Latin America. In: Grugel, J., Hammett, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of International Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-42724-3_15
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