Basic energy, water and sanitation and transportation services are everyday necessities of consumers: their quality of life depends on their accessibility, quality and affordability.
Diagnosing the status of key infrastructure services, how to navigate technological changes and inform the actions of governments and providers to guide investment and regulation are the goal of DIA 2020, a flagship publication of the Inter-American Development Bank.
Presented here are efforts to meet the outstanding debt to ensure that the vast majority of the region's citizens have access to these basic services. They are an invitation to reflect on how much we take for granted, from the light bulb to the bathroom, and the transformative effect on citizen’s lives when they access them for the first time: could you remain without light throughout every night? Live without clean water? With no bathroom in your house? Or not having a safe means of transport?
These stories tell us what happens when citizens of our region can stop imagining what living with access to these services could be.
LASTING LIGHT FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES IN SURINAME
Over 100 isolated communities in Surinam had only intermittent electricity, mostly from polluting generators. An IDB-financed electrification program brought 24-hour access to energy and light, transforming their quality of life.
MEET THE COLOMBIAN TOWN THAT JUST GOT ELECTRICITY FOR THE FIRST TIME
A project supported by the IDB brought a secure and constant supply of electricity for the first time to Gualajo, a Colombian village just 34 kilometers from the border with Ecuador.
UNDERGROUND TANKS THAT BUILD RESILIENCE IN MONTEVIDEO
You don’t think about floods living in the middle of the city until the water is, literally, coming into your house. That was the reality for thousands in Montevideo until the city decided to upgrade its sanitation network.
HOW IS LATIN AMERICA IN TERMS OF SANITATION?
If you’re like most people in the developed world, you probably take safe drinking water and sanitation for granted. But life is very different for 490 million people in Latin America, where millions of people still use outhouses.
Read the story here.
SEARCHING FOR SAFE ROUTES
More than 60% of women have suffered some type of sexual, physical or verbal violence on public transport in Latin America. Several cities are working to solve the problem, generating knowledge about the design, implementation and monitoring of initiatives, as well as activities and studies in favor of gender equality in the transport sector.
FOUR ANDEAN SUCCESS STORIES YOU DIDN'T KNOW
From the (literally) groundbreaking new metro in Quito to advanced mining-safety technology in Peru, the Andean region is becoming a new yardstick for development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
