Quilloac is an Indigenous Kañari community located in the Andes Mountain range of Ecuador. For Indigenous Kañari land is not only a resource, but also central to the community’s cultural identity, as the community relies on agriculture. Historically, Quilloac was part of the hacienda system, which limited Indigenous access to land and resources. More recently land reform processes in Ecuador brought change, but inequities and disputes over land ownership persist (Torres, 2009).

In general, the tropical Andes in southern Ecuador is characterised by low population density and small-scale mining activities that impact water quality (Villa-Achupallas et al., 2018).

Indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Andes, face conflicts over water due to external pressures like mining, state interventions, and water governance reforms. These communities often have customary water rights and collective management practices, which are challenged by formal policies and large-scale extractive projects (Hoogesteger & Verzijl, 2015).

Furthermore, as a consequence of climate change, the tropical Andean glaciers are retreating rapidly, affecting downstream water supply for agriculture, hydropower, and domestic use. There is a lack of high-quality, long-term hydrometeorological data, making it difficult to model future water scenarios accurately (Buytaert et al., 2009). The Andean páramo ecosystem, particularly in southern Ecuador, rainfall is highly localized and variable traditional data sources may underestimate or misrepresent rainfall (Padrón et al., 2015).

These challenges were presented by a group of Indigenous women from the Andean Quilloac community who in 2024 participated the School of Environment and Water for Women under the Rally Femenino GEOFEM® initiative, sponsored by SDG NEXUS (Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, 2025), and with the collaboration of FabLab IICA (Monge et al., 2023). The program seeks to strengthen women’s capacity to manage and conserve water and environmental resources within their communities. By providing technical tools and specialised knowledge, the school encourages active participation of women in environmental and water-related decision-making, promoting sustainable development and gender equity in rural areas. (UCUENCA, 2024)

To address the challenge of limited data availability, especially in high-altitude regions, which hampers understanding of local-to-regional climate interactions (Campozano et al., 2016) a project was proposed for the implementation of cost-effective water sensors (Monge, 2022) and specialised software for data collection and management.

Since the training took place, FabLab IICA has overseen follow-up activities providing ongoing technical support, expertise and additional training, which is crucial for the success of the project.