[{"bbox": [97, 152, 1134, 205], "category": "Text", "text": "10 (Reducing inequalities), 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 13 (Climate action) and 15 (Life on land)."}, {"bbox": [97, 218, 1134, 352], "category": "Text", "text": "This Action supports the EU Council Conclusions on EU Human Rights Guidelines on Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation emphasising this precondition for life – plus the Conclusions on Water in the EU’s External Action, which highlight the “strategic importance of water, in particular for sustainable development, poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, human development, climate action, environmental protection, biodiversity and ecosystem preservation, humanitarian action, and peace and stability”."}, {"bbox": [97, 363, 1097, 470], "category": "Text", "text": "Finally, this Action will also contribute to the implementation of the EU Gender Action Plan III (2021-2025), specifically: strengthening economic and social rights and the empowerment of girls and women, advancing equal participation and leadership and addressing challenges and harnessing the opportunities offered by the green transition and the digital transformation."}, {"bbox": [85, 511, 323, 543], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [85, 576, 234, 603], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [97, 622, 1134, 913], "category": "Text", "text": "**General context:** The Plurinational State of Bolivia is a lower-middle-income country characterized by solid inclusive growth during the last 15 years. According to the World Bank, 25% of Bolivia's GDP comes from the export of goods and services, of which natural gas represents the main one (68% of export value and 7% of GDP). For its high dependency on natural gas and minerals exports, the Bolivian economy is highly vulnerable to commodities international price fluctuations. The country experienced a major political, institutional, and social crisis following the failed 2019 national elections. After a convulsed period, the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) won the October 2020 national elections with an absolute majority. However, the country remains highly polarized, and the risks of conflict due to societal divides, political struggles, and unmet social demands are high. After a sharp GDP contraction in 2020, the economy recovered in 2021 thanks to high public investments, emphasizing the productive sector and imports substitution (main objectives of the Economic and Social Development Plan - PDES 2021-2025)."}, {"bbox": [97, 926, 1134, 1008], "category": "Text", "text": "However, it will be challenging for the government to maintain the current public spending levels to finance the mid-term development plan. In this context, international partnerships and development cooperation will be key to accompany and provide complementary funding."}, {"bbox": [97, 1018, 1134, 1206], "category": "Text", "text": "**Water and Sanitation context:** Bolivia is one of the countries with the most pressing water and sanitation needs in Latin America, and one of the most vulnerable to climate change, suffering cyclical water crises with recurrent droughts and floods. At the same time, uncontrolled land use activities, unsustainable agricultural practices, lack of planning of human settlements, infrastructure and economic activities, as well as deforestation and wildfires, exacerbate impacts from climate change as well as it reduces the natural resilience to climate change. Bolivia faces a great challenge to make the access to safe drinking water and sanitation and universal right effective for its population."}, {"bbox": [97, 1217, 1134, 1376], "category": "Text", "text": "The 2009 Constitution and the 2012 Law of Mother Earth set out Bolivia's endorsement of the human right to water and sanitation. According to the 2016 Law n° 777, the long-term planning for the period 2015-2025 is the 2025 Patriotic Agenda. The 2025 Patriotic Agenda defines the objectives and goals to be achieved by 2025, based on 13 fundamental pillars. Pillar 2 established as a goal that 100 % of Bolivian women and men have access to drinking water and sanitary sewerage services. This intervention is fully aligned with the 2021-2025 Economic and Social Development Plan – PDES."}, {"bbox": [97, 1388, 1134, 1548], "category": "Text", "text": "While the water-related United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) was already achieved by Bolivia in 2012 (80,8 % coverage vs a goal of 78,5 % in 2015) and the percentage of population with access to safe water reached 87.1 % in 2021, there is still a slight gap in the access to sanitation, whereby the 2021 coverage was 63.2 %, below the MDG target of 64% by 2015. The progress has been satisfactory in urban areas, but the situation remains particularly challenging in rural areas, where the access to safe water coverage is 68,7 % and the access to sanitation coverage is 45 % (15 % less than the objective forecasted)."}, {"bbox": [1038, 1681, 1143, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 32"}]