COLOMBIA | VIVO CUENCA WATER FUND

Context
In response to severe flooding and mudslides in 2010 that damaged Manizales’ water supply, a stakeholder initiative called Pacts for the Cuenca was launched. This voluntary 5-year agreement, signed in 2012 by various institutions, aimed to implement a master plan for the watershed covering five municipalities (Manizales, Chinchiná, Villamaría, Palestina, and Neira) to improve ecosystem services and reduce vulnerability. In 2017, this initiative evolved into the VivoCuenca Water Fund.

VivoCuenca’s purpose is to manage resources to protect the ecosystem services of the 106,000-hectare Chinchiná River basin in Caldas, roughly 15% of the department’s area. Their interventions focus on three main areas:

1. Implementing green infrastructure enhances ecosystem services, especially water quality and climate change mitigation.

2. Engaging communities to foster sustainability.

3. Ensuring financial sustainability for these interventions.

The Caldas region features diverse geographies and social contexts. Highland areas are inhabited by migrants from central Colombia, who often own large parcels and live in urban areas. Lowland areas are populated by migrants from western Colombia, engaged primarily in coffee farming, and more willing to work with environmental institutions. Unlike other regions, land ownership in Caldas is typically clear and well-documented.

Community Engagement Process
VivoCuenca engages various community groups, including local inhabitants, rural producer families, and laborers. Indigenous communities are not currently involved as they do not reside in the project municipalities. VivoCuenca’s engagement approach involves working with trusted community leaders and direct interaction with rural producer families for project implementation. Community members are involved in co-designing project activities to different extents based on the project type (technical vs. educational).

Key stakeholders include individual landowners and laborers, community groups like producer associations and environmental organizations, educational institutions, and public and private companies. VivoCuenca builds trust over at least six months through connections with trusted social actors before engaging directly with producers.

For technical environmental projects (e.g., PES projects), VivoCuenca’s team identifies and prioritizes areas, maps stakeholders through surveys and interviews, and socializes projects with community leaders and relevantofficials. Project agreements are co-designed with stakeholders and implemented, tracked, and monitored by VivoCuenca’s technical team.

For environmental education projects (e.g., PaSos and Sustainable Agrosystems), methodologies vary based on community input as can be seen in Table 2. Community engagement ensures the sustainability of projects by securing buy-in from landowners and nearby community members, recognizing the impact of broader ecological processes. 

Engaging communities is crucial for the medium- and long-term success of VivoCuenca’s initiatives, ensuring that projects on private lands have the support of both property owners and surrounding community members.