The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) has provided advice on investments and policies to its partners and clients in developing countries for more than 21 years. Much of its early work, such as that on low-cost technologies, demand-responsiveness, strategic sanitation planning, and participatory hygiene have now become standard approaches in the sector. Drawing from its field network in over 30 countries, the Program is continuing to explore new frontiers of knowledge. For example, it is identifying and testing private sector partnerships that provide services to the poor and helping its partners gain access to current sector practices. The Program has been a forerunner of a growing list of partnership programs managed by the World Bank. Its well-established global network, strong tradition of client responsiveness, and continuous open dialogue with World Bank clients in developing countries provide a model for development practice. The Program is focusing its attention and resources on the most critical countries and regions of its operation. It is building partnerships with a broader range of stakeholders and developing alliances with the leading international agencies and sources of knowledge in the sector. Limiting further overall growth, the Program's management is seeking to reduce fixed costs and increase flexibility to enable the WSP to reduce risk and better respond to opportunities and new client demands.

Las investigaciones aquí reunidas se centran en el análisis de los procesos de apropiación y conservación de los recursos naturales por los campesinos mexicanos, en el contexto neoliberal que hemos vivido en las dos últimas décadas. Este conjunto de estudios resulta particularmente interesante porque su amplia cobertura geográfica nos permite asomarnos a diversas situaciones locales y porque los procesos estudiados son abordados con diversos enfoques y desde distintas disciplinas. Si además consideramos los trabajos de campo recientes que le dan soporte a estas investigaciones, tenemos como resultado una visión fresca y una reflexión renovada de los viejos problemas agrarios de México

During the decade of the 80’s world-wide market faced changes in the philosophy of businesses with a globalized approach supported on technological advances pretending to obtain competitive products, reduce production costs, and appropriately respond to the specific needs of the clients. The objectives of this assay were a) to evaluate the application of the Activity-Based Costing system (ABC) in determining the costs of a water quality index (ICA), and b) to compare its results with the Traditional Costing System (SCT). The methodology of both, ABC and SCT was compared, including their technical (CT) and professional components (CP), in a 12 months period. It was found that, in the total cost, 9 out of the 20 parameters were overvalued by the SCT and the remaining 11 were undervalued. In the studied period, the PC were clearly overvalued in 12 out of the 20 parameters, and the remaining 8 were undervalued by SCT. In the same sense, the CT were overvalued in 9 out of the 20 parameters, and the remaining 11 were undervalued by SCT. The obtained results allow to emphasize that the ABC is quite suitable for small enterprises of the service sector, since it represents a more precise method than the SCT, for determining the costs of the studied company.  | Durante la década de los 80 el mercado mundial enfrentó cambios en la filosofía de negocios con un enfoque globalizado, apoyado en avances tecnológicos con el propósito de obtener productos competitivos, minimizar costos de producción y responder oportunamente a las necesidades específicas del cliente. Los objetivos de este estudio fueron a) evaluar la aplicación del sistema de costeo por actividades (ABC) en la determinación de costos de un índice de calidad del agua (ICA), y b) comparar sus resultados con el sistema de costos tradicional (SCT). Se compararon la metodología de ABC y SCT, incluyendo los componentes técnicos (CT) y componentes profesionales (CP), en un periodo de 12 meses. Se encontró que, en el costo total, nueve de los 20 parámetros estuvieron sobrevaluados por el SCT y los 11 restantes se encontraron subvalorados. En el periodo estudiado, los CP se apreciaron sobrevaluados en 12 de los 20 parámetros y en los ocho restantes fueron subvalorados por SCT. Así mismo, los CT estuvieron sobrevaluados en nueve de los 20 parámetros, y los restantes 11 se encontraron subvalorados por SCT. Los resultados obtenidos permiten señalar que el ABC es aplicable a las pequeñas empresas del sector servicios, ya que representa un método más preciso que el SCT para la determinación de los costos de la empresa estudiada.