Denise Freitas Soares de Moraes is a researcher at the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua), in the Coordination of Water Governance and Capacity Building and an activist with the Gender and Environment Network of Mexico.
«The Blue Community is an initiative that recognizes water as a common good whose availability and quality must be protected. As an organization, it promotes dialogue between organizations and academics committed to struggles of resistance, mobilization, and building alternatives for just and equitable water management. I could not agree more with these principles, which is why I am a strong supporter of the Blue Community.»
Read the interview “Community participation is key” with Denise Soares in the Blue News.
“The biggest challenge is not building the water infrastructure, but ensuring that people know how to operate it, maintain it and adapt it to their needs. If we fail to make people understand the importance of these solutions, the technologies will simply be abandoned. We have seen cases where dry toilets end up being used as storage facilities because there was no proper follow-up. Without a comprehensive effort that combines technology with education and community participation, it will not be possible to guarantee the sustainability of these solutions in the long term.”
Further publications by Denise Soares (in Spanish)
- Territorio, género y derechos: el agua y el saneamiento en debate
- Ecología política y gestión del agua en en territorios rurales – Caso El Mirador, México