Water is not a safe and reliable resource in rural areas of Costa Rica. To address these issues, residents of rural communities organized community sewer and aqueduct associations (Asociaciones Administradoras de los Sistemas de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, known as ASADAS), but they lacked the essential skills and tools to properly operate the systems they were charged with managing, including the capacity to conduct environmental studies, advise technical staff on operations and maintenance, repair infrastructure, access a wide range of management tools, and improve administrative skills. This hindered their ability to provide reliable, high-quality services to local communities.  

To scale the ASADAS model, Fundación Avina helped create Sustainability Centers, known as Centros de Atención Integral (CAIs), with the goal of improving service delivery and the ASADAS nonprofit business model. Fundación Avina worked in coordination with government agencies to develop and launch this strategy, applying our action framework to foster collaborative processes and govern common goods. We also mobilized financing, knowledge, and strategic support to improve operations and provided trainings on soft skills and other topics.  

Approximately 345,000 residents of 259 rural communities in Costa Rica gained improved access to water and sanitation thanks to the expanded professional services that the ASADAS receive from the CAIs. 

The following CAIs incorporated new services: Unión de Acueductos de la Zona Norte-Norte (UANN), Centro para la Sostenibilidad del Agua en el Atlántico (CESAGUA), Centro de Asistencia Integral para la Sostenibilidad del Agua (CAISA).   

Federación de Acueductos Huetar Norte (FASHUN), Liga Comunal del Agua (LCA), and Unión de Acueductos de la Península (UNAPEN). These centers offer 14 new services, including water quality control, rehabilitation of deteriorated infrastructure, reforestation campaigns, environmental studies, and an array of administrative capacities. These services are provided at cost, which guarantees their sustainability and accessibility for ASADAS. The CAIs also offer several services free of charge, such as trainings and advising. 

The ASADAS are improving their management of an essential common good, now that they have the skills and tools needed to deliver a high-quality service to their communities. Currently, Costa Rica's rural population consists of 930,000 people, according to World Bank data. These improvements are reaching 37% of this population.  

This represents progress in expanding the human right of access to water by helping communities organize and expand their capacities.