This report was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work and Budget of the OECD Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) and the OECD Water Governance Programme.
The report was drafted by Oriana Romano, Head of Unit, and María Ferrer, Policy Analyst, Water Governance, Blue and Circular Economy Unit, under the supervision of Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division in the CFE. Maria Salvetti, Senior Water Economist, Florence School of Economics, provided substantial inputs and recommendations, contributing to earlier versions of the report. Georges Laimé, Policy Analyst, and Doros Voulgaridis, Intern, of the Water Governance, Blue and Circular Economy Unit, carried out data analysis and literature review. The report benefitted from comments by Nadim Ahmad, Deputy Director in the CFE, Anthony Cox and Soo‑Jin Kim, Deputy Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division in the CFE.
Warm thanks are conveyed to the IDB team for their invaluable contributions and comments throughout the policy dialogue and drafting process, in particular: Sergio Campos, Chief, Water and Sanitation Division; Maria Eugenia de la Pena, Water and Sanitation Lead Specialist, and Tania Paez Rubio, Water and Sanitation Senior Specialist.
Special thanks are also conveyed to the ten countries that responded to the OECD-IDB survey carried out between October 2023 and February 2024 and provided comments on the draft report (see the full list of respondents in Annex A).
Authors are grateful to Anthony Cox, Senior Policy Advisor, Ecologic Economics and former Deputy Director of the OECD Environment Directorate (ENV) for his in-depth review of the report.
Preliminary findings were presented at the 2nd IDB Workshop of the Regional Process of the Americas and the OECD-IDB Workshop “Circular Water Economy in selected LAC countries”, both held in February 2024. Members of the OECD Water Governance Initiative (WGI) peer‑reviewed the draft report during the 19th meeting (4-5 March 2024, Marrakesh, Morocco). WGI members Belén Ramos Alcalde, Head of International Affairs, Spanish Association of Water Supply and Sanitation (AEAS), and Juan Antonio Guijarro, Director of Institutional Relations, Public Policy and Alliance Development, Veolia Iberia Latam and Member of the Executive Committee, Aquae Foundation, participated in ad hoc interviews that helped improve the policy recommendations.
Thanks are extended to Jack Waters in the CFE for preparing the report for publication.