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A successful innovation strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean must combine technology with social innovation and new business and management models.

Nya is an 11-year-old who, in 2008 had to take a long eight-hour walk to fetch water from the pond. She could not even imagine that 2 years later, the United Nations General Assembly would recognize the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights.

Podcast transcription

Hello, I'm Anamaría Nuñez, and you're listening to Radio BID, a podcast specially designed for the virtual tour of the Inter-American Development Bank.

How about we talk about hygiene today? Yes, menstrual hygiene. No, no, no, don't leave. Menstrual hygiene is a very important topic, and we can discuss it without myths or taboos. Why is it so important? Well, at this very moment, over 300 million people around the world are menstruating. It's a key issue for the well-being of our planet.

Innovation needs supporting ecosystems that allow the development and implementation of new solutions to provide more and better water and sanitation services.

By Hila Cohen*

Providing universal water and sanitation services is a goal that all Latin American and Caribbean countries share. To achieve it, we need to collect data that lets us clearly measure the progress and the gaps we need to address.

By Analia Gomez Vidal y Jesse Madden Libra*

By Adrian Ortega-Andrade and Isabelle Braly-Cartillier*

Since the first green bond was issued in 2007, the green bond market has grown exponentially, surpassing the US$1 trillion milestone in cumulative issuance (CBI, 2021). This rapid growth is due in part to the commitment reached in Paris in 2015 to limit the rise in average global temperature to below 1.5 degrees C, and to the increase in the demand of investing instruments with positive environmental impacts from investors who are increasingly taking on a commitment to sustainability.

The winners of the IDB-FEMSA Award are RENAR Green Strategy, in the Water category; Zhana Solutions, in the Sanitation category; and Dipterra, in the Solid Waste category. The winner of the Ideas into Action Award is The Closing the Gap Project, presented by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM). 

The festival of innovation in water, sanitation, and solid waste has revealed the winners of the IDB-FEMSA and Ideas in Action Awards. 

Groundwater supplies up to 60% of the water in some Latin American and Caribbean countries. They are an invisible resource, but essential for the present and future of the region.

By María Augusta Olmedo and Paulina González*

When we think of natural water sources, we generally imagine a river, a stream, a lake, flows that we can see with the naked eye. However, under our feet, there is an invisible reserve, but essential to satisfy human needs: groundwater.

26 semifinalists in the categories of water, sanitation, and solid waste are moving to the second round of application, in which the jury will define the nine finalists who will compete for three prizes of US $10,000.

Adopting innovation at all levels in water and sanitation provision and waste management is key to overcoming the historical gaps affecting the most vulnerable in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The increasing variety of climate, water and biodiversity funds and financing facilities, has the potential to increase complementarity. In practice, this increasing fragmentation is becoming a systemic barrier for local access to finance.

By Mónica Altamirano*