Berriozábal is a municipality located in the northeast of the state of Chiapas, which is part of the Metropolitan Area of Tuxtla Gutiérrez. It is located in the middle basin of the Grijalva River, in the physiographic regions known as the central depression and the northern mountains. It has a total population of 64,632 inhabitants, of which 18,670 (28.9%) live in 44 localities with less than 2500 inhabitants.

According to official data, 34% of homes in rural areas of Berriozábal do not have piped water. The water that reaches the houses is not disinfected and arrives only once or twice a week, which is insufficient to meet basic needs and ensure the health of the population. In addition, 12% of the population has to carry water from distant points.

The Drinking Water and Sanitation System of Berriozábal (SAPAM) only serves the municipal seat and 8 nearby rural localities. As a result of the work promoted by Cántaro Azul in collaboration with the Municipality of Berriozábal, in 2019 the first Municipal Community Water and Sanitation Services Organization (OMSCAS) in Mexico was created. This is a public, decentralized organization of the municipality with legal personality, whose objective is to accompany and strengthen the community committees that directly provide water and sanitation services in the rural localities of the municipality.

The strength of this organization is that its Governing Board, the highest governance body, is made up of 50% representatives of the water community committees (8 members), as well as 6 municipal and state public officials, and 2 representatives of civil associations as part of the advisory council (Cántaro Azul and Operación Bendición México). That is to say, it is a para-municipal institution governed, for the most part, by the communities themselves that benefit from its actions (what we call a public-community alliance). In addition, it has an operational area made up of 5 people: General Management, Technical Coordination, Social Coordination, Water Quality and Safety Coordination, and Accounting Coordination.

In its three years of existence, OMSCAS has managed to address some of the demands of 30 communities, and more than 11.7 million Mexican pesos have been co-invested to improve, rehabilitate or expand water and sanitation systems in 17 of them. This organization managed to transcend from one municipal administration to another in 2021, and was recently recognized and awarded by the federal government (INAFED), as one of the two best municipal practices in Mexico.

However, in addition to operational challenges (coverage, equity and quality of service, monitoring and improvements to water quality, financial and administrative autonomy, among others), one of the latent risks is that OMSCAS will become inoperative over time, both due to the lack of attention and budget that the Municipality grants it, and due to the lack of knowledge and interest of the community representatives. This risk increases when the representatives of the water community committees change in each locality (every year) and when there is a change of municipal administration (every three years), with the next election being in 2024.

Participatory systematization of the OMSCAS experience

• 1.1 Design and implementation of workshops and tools for collecting experiences and learnings with the involved actors.
• 1.2 Implementation of analysis, validation and feedback workshops of the systematization results, with the involved actors.
• 1.3 Production of an editorial and/or audiovisual material for the dissemination of the OMSCAS experience in Berriozábal.
• 1.4 Preparation of a synthesis document of the OMSCAS model to promote its replication in other municipalities.

Community communication for the socialization of the history, achievements, and plans of OMSCAS:

• 2.1 Training workshops to strengthen the communication skills of OMSCAS members.
• 2.2 Collaborative design of the community communication campaign.
• 2.3 Curation and editing of printed and/or audiovisual materials.
• 2.4 Accompaniment in the dissemination of content in community (radio, murals, assemblies, projections, exhibitions, posters, mural newspaper, etc.) and external media.

Direct results

• 1 Preliminary report (draft) and audiovisual record that retrieves the generated information.
• 1 Workshop held
• 1 Final report of systematization.
• Material for the dissemination of the experience systematization.
• 1 Synthesis document (executive summary) of the OMSCAS model
• 3 Workshops held
• Community communication campaign plan
• Printed and audiovisual materials generated for the community communication campaign
• An evaluation report of the implementation of the community communication campaign (reaches, impacts, media, publications, etc.).

Expected Impact

• Achieve active participation of 40 communities in the OMSCAS general assembly by 2026.
  
• The OMSCAS and its allies annually invest 6 million pesos to improve water and sanitation services in remote communities of Berriozábal by 2026.
• Achieve that 80% of rural homes in the municipality have access to drinking water services by 2026.
• 3 OMSCAS or equivalent structures operate in Chiapas by 2026

• Cántaro Azul Foundation A.C.
• Operation Blessing Mexico A.C.
• Municipal Organization of Community Water and Sanitation Services (OMSCAS) of Berriozábal
• Municipal Government of Berriozábal, Chiapas, Mexico
• AVINA Foundation
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• Gonzalo Rio Arronte Foundation

• Margarita Gutiérrez Vizcaíno, Director of Community Water Management Program at Cántaro Azul (margarita@cantaroazl.org)
• Erwin Gómez Sarmiento, General Director of the Municipal Organization of Community Water and Sanitation Services (OMSCAS) of Berriozábal, Chiapas, Mexico (erfigos13@gmail.com)

We made progress in the first phase of the project, focusing on the participatory systematization of the experience. Specifically, the following activities were carried out:

1.1 Design and implementation of workshops and tools for collecting experiences and learnings with the involved actors.

1.2 Implementation of analysis, validation and feedback workshops of the systematization results, with the involved actors.

Based on these results, a series of community communication proposals were developed. We hope to gradually promote them, even though we lack the funding for it. However, we don't want to miss the opportunity in the current context to have an impact.