The State Capacity Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) is pleased to invite you a special talk on:
Regulatory governance, human rights and the case of community-run water plants in Colombia
Speakers: Dr Angela M. Páez, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration, Tennessee State University (USA) in conversation with Ms Arkaja Singh, Fellow, State Capacity Initiative, Centre for Policy Research.
The session will also be live-streamed on the CPR Facebook page.
In case of any issues and for any queries, please email at communication@cprindia.org.
About the talk
Angela will discuss the case of community-run water plants in rural Colombia that seek to protect their right to self-manage following a community based approach. Latin America and Colombia have witnessed several decades of reform to establish the regulatory role of government in relation to water. In the Colombian case, the 1991 Constitution brought together two models in tension when it comes to water policy: on the one hand, a neoliberal approach that was embodied by new technocratic bureaucratic agencies with the goal of reducing corruption. On the other hand, the constitution brought a clear emphasis on rights’ protection including a long list of constitutional rights with judicial injunctions to protect them. A key actor reconciling these tensions has been the Constitutional Court with rulings that have placed administrative efficiency as a way to guarantee constitutional rights. However, the tussle over community-run water adds another dimension that is not as yet settled.
Overall, municipalities are the main responsible party for providing access to water to the population and they achieve this goal either directly or via contracts with public, private, or mixed organizations. Very few municipalities actually provide this service directly, and there are records to suggest that over 10,000 community-run plants are in existence. Some of these community-run plants hesitate to be part of any records, out of fear of the government’s control. This reluctance is also related to disagreement between the leading values of community-run plants that focus on a group decision-making and preservation of water sources, versus national policy that focuses on privatization and technocratic regulation. Despite this reluctance, community-run water plants have been advancing a campaign towards the creation of legislation that protects their right to self-manage by following a community-based approach. In her talk, Angela will explore the intersections between government functions (e.g. regulation and public finance) and local practices of water governance, focusing on the role that the government has had in supporting (or not) these local level structures.
About the Speaker
Angela M. Páez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration, Tennessee State University (USA). Dr. Páez holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration (University of Kansas, USA), a Masters in Administrative Law and a Law Degree (Universidad del Rosario, Colombia). Her research interests include law and public administration, courts and rights’ protection in Latin America, and water governance.
