The commitment of the Metropolitan Municipality of Quito (MMQ) to provide access to adequate sustainable public services has been undermined by its inefficient and financially dependent enterprises.

To strengthen municipal infrastructure financing as part of a larger urban development plan, Vietnam participated in an exchange with Colombia. The Vietnamese learned about the institutional, legal, regulatory, and operational frameworks of municipal development funds (MDFs).

Honduras sought to minimize the adverse impacts of natural disasters by including disaster risk management (DRM) and environmental considerations into overall development and land use planning at the national, regional, and local levels.

In a strategy to strengthen the coffee sector in Burundi and Rwanda, both countries demonstrated interest in implementing shade-grown coffee programs that will promote sustainable economic development and redress land degradation.

Bolivia recognized during the preparation and implementation of the National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) and the National Agricultural Census (NAC), that there was a need to strengthen its statistical and information systems for monitoring and accountability.

Bolivia’s National Development Plan and Country Partnership Strategy identify the improvement of basic social services as one of the four development pillars for sustained economic growth. New Education and Popular Participation laws call for education services that consider the nation’s rich cultural diversity.

Regional, provincial, and municipal officials from Peru’s Cusco Region engaged in an exchange with Colombian officials to learn about innovative solid waste management models, including for contracts and service administration.