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. This exchange helped regional and local governments analyze options, reach agreement on appropriate models for their jurisdictions, and plan solid waste investments under the Bank-financed Cusco Regional Development Project.

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Challenge

Peru’s solid waste management needs improvement: more than 76 percent of Peruvian municipalities dispose of their waste in open dumps. Under a recent law, cities and towns were required to develop plans for collecting, treating, and disposing of waste in socially and environmentally acceptable ways. In 2011 authorities, together with the World Bank, began preparing the Cusco Regional Development Project (CRDP) to support the designs of integrated solid waste management systems in the provinces of Cusco, Calca, and Urubamba.

Peruvian authorities lacked the skills to identify and implement appropriate administrative and contractual arrangements for constructing and operating landfills under the CDRP. They requested assistance from the Bank to learn how other countries had developed and implemented such arrangements. Given the high number of Peruvian municipalities facing similar challenges, this assistance was also expected to establish connections for longer-term learning.

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Solution

During project preparation, Bank and Peruvian officials proposed a technical assistance (TA) and exchange program with Colombia. Regional and local governments would analyze administrative and contractual options for solid waste management, select management models appropriate to their jurisdictions, and witness first-hand how these models operate.

Officials chose Colombia because it has a robust policy framework for solid waste management that engaged both public and private actors. For nearly 20 years, Colombia has successfully implemented projects within this framework and developed a variety of contractual and administrative models in jurisdictions similar to the three provinces in Peru.

The goal of the exchange, which engaged national and provincial officials and mayors, was to help determine which solid waste management models to pursue under the CRDP. There were four stages in the exchange:

• Videoconferences (VCs): Officials from the Cusco Regional Government and municipalities engaged in three VC dialogues with Bank staff to identify their preferred solid waste management models.
• Workshop in Peru: Officials participated in a workshop in Lima on September 17 and 18, 2012 to review model options, including financial and institutional arrangements, and plan a visit to Colombia to see certain models in action.
• Learning Visit: In October 2012, eleven Peruvian officials traveled to the Colombian cities of Neiva, Cúcuta, Ciénaga, Quinchía, and Santa Fe de Antioquia to learn from local agencies and visit disposal sites with diverse management models that engaged public and private sectors. Bolivian officials also participated in this visit using funding from a different trust fund.
• Development of learning materials and an exchange platform: To capture lessons applicable to the CRDP and other projects, Peruvian officials developed presentations and videos on options and cases witnessed in Colombia. They also established an online platform to support networking and knowledge sharing.

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Results

The delegates increased their capacity to design and implement solid waste management systems in the Cusco Region. The program helped to

• enhance regional, provincial, and municipal government officials’ knowledge and skills in innovative procurement, contracting, and institutional arrangements.
• increase officials’ commitment and consensus to move forward with solid waste reforms. For example, provincial governments reached agreement on their preferred management model and then built ownership to adopt models and related reforms. One municipal official noted that “the visit was very satisfying and productive . . . we know that this [reform] is difficult but not impossible, and we would like to do this in our city.”
• refine the design of solid waste management systems to be supported by the CRDP. Officials began to adapt project documents and terms of reference to incorporate the chosen models.
• enhance knowledge transfer and networking. The presentations and videos created during this exchange have been used to inform other activities, such as a project in Brazil and the Bank’s policy dialogue with Argentina and Colombia. The online platform will also enable networking and sharing of documents on solid waste management.

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Lessons Learned

• An exchange can be an effective way to visualize and inform the design of a Bank investment project, particularly to help clients define the choices they need to make.
• It is important to ensure the timing for an exchange overlaps with milestones and decision points during project preparation.
• Preparatory discussions and workshops held before a study tour can improve its impact on a country’s decision-making process.
• The examples offered by an exchange should be closely tailored to the local context of the knowledge receiving country.

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World Bank Group Contribution

World Bank specialists brokered this exchange with Colombia based on its history of solid waste management reforms supported by Bank projects. Bank staff used $40K from a grant of the South-South Experience Exchange Facility (SEETF) and $5K of project preparation funds for the CRDP to fund Bank consultants and the delegates’ travel and accommodation. The Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program (BNPP) Trust Fund funded the Bolivan officials’ participation with US$32K, with the aim of supporting the Bolivia Strengthening Environmental and Natural Resources Management Project. BNPP also funded the video development.

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Partners

The officials who shared knowledge from Colombia included the following:

• Representatives from the Solid Waste Division of Colombia´s Ministry of Housing, Cities and Territory (MVCT)
• Officials from Colombia’s Regulatory Commission for Potable Water and Basic Sanitation (CRA)
• Municipal authorities and private solid waste management operators from the cities of Cúcuta, Ciénaga, Neiva, Qunichía, and Santa Fe de Antioquia

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Moving Forward

The exchange was part of a multi-year effort to transform solid waste systems in the Cusco Region and municipalities, which culminated in the approval of the Cusco Regional Development Project in November 2013. In addition to supporting tourism and disaster risk management, this project includes a US$18.4 million component to strengthen solid waste management in the provinces of Calca, Cusco, and Urubamba. Among other activities, this component will fund improvements in waste collection, disposal, and recycling and the construction of three new provincial landfills. The management models chosen as part of this exchange served as fundamental design elements of the project.

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Beneficiaries/Participants

Participants came from Peru’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Regional Government of Cusco, and Provincial and Municipal Governments. Key officials are mentioned below.

• Armando Latorre, Ministry of Economy and Finance
• José Rosendo Calderón Pacohuanca; Regional Director for Planning, Budget and Land-use Regulation; Cusco Regional Government
• Edilberto Monje Blanco, Alderman, Cusco Province
• Sr. Juan Pablo Luza Sincuy, Managing Director, Consejero Delegado (DRG)
• Sra. Karol Bellota Linares, Managing Director, CRG
• Ing. Benicio Rios Ocsa, Mayor, Provincial Municipality of Urubamba
• Dr. Ciriaco Condorí Cruz, Mayor, Provincial Municipality of Calca
• Policapo Ccorimanya, Mayor, Municipality of San Jerónimo, Cusco
• Jorge Alberto Montalvo, Responsible of the Haquira dumpsite, Cusco Province
• Ing. Helio Molina Aranda, Executive Director, Plan Copesco
• Arq. Percy Castro López, Coordinator, Programa de Desarrollo Regional

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