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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In 2011, the new administration of the Peruvian Government re-prioritized the need to improve the quality of education and services in rural areas. In order to enhance both knowledge and skills of key officials to build a more effective rural education model for Peru, the World Bank organized a knowledge exchange that focused on one of the most successful models, Colombia’s Escuela Nueva program.

Challenge

Coffee, Burundi’s primary export crop, is the main source of income for more than 600,000 families, or about 30% of the population. Most of the families are small-scale farmers, and among the poorest people in the country. Unsustainable and unregulated coffee production in Burundi has contributed to land degradation, which in turn depresses productivity and increases vulnerability to climate change. Coffee farmers use steep slopes, often eliminating trees on hillsides to grow coffee under full sun, practices that contribute to land degradation and biodiversity loss.

Colombia is a long-standing promoter and practitioner of South-South cooperation. South-South is a key axis of Colombia’s foreign policy as it promotes exchange and integration, and contributes to develop capacities. In 2018, Colombia was involved in 400 South-South cooperation initiatives. The Government of Colombia considers countries from the global South as a tremendous source of tested and innovative development solutions, which are highly relevant to countries that find themselves in similar conditions.