In Colombia, only 18% of the population have access to safe sanitation. Nationally, 30% do not have access to a handwashing facility with soap and water at home, while in rural areas 67% of the population does not have access to a handwashing facility with soap and water. At the same time, around 40% of the population live below the poverty line, and the country hosts the third highest number of refugees in the world, with over nine million refugees and internally displaced persons. Girls and women often lack information about safe menstrual hygiene and face social stigma because of their period.

After more than two years of executing the GEF CReW+ project in Colombia, Sanitation for Millions launched a separate intervention in October 2022. The project works mainly in the peri-urban area of Cúcuta, close to the Venezuelan border, which is home to a high number of refugees and migrants, as well as in Bogotá. Sanitation for Millions Colombia aims to improve access to safe sanitation along these lines of intervention:

• Improve safe and barrier-free sanitary facilities, mainly in schools
• Establishing hygiene routines among the target group, with a special attention to hand hygiene and menstrual hygiene management (MHM)
• Training of staff to ensure long-term operation and maintenance of facilities.
• Advisory services to political stakeholders to establish an enabling framework for the provision of sustainable sanitation services.
• Support to private service providers to improve services along the sanitation chain.

The programme’s main local partner is the Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, but Sanitation for Millions also works closely with the Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Education, the National Learning Service (SENA) and the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF), and at the local level with the Education Secretariat, the Health Secretariat and the Mayor’s Office of Cúcuta.