Working Regionally to Combat Plastic Pollution From transport to health, food to construction and textiles, plastics are among the most abundant materials in our economy. Globally, the plastic industry is valued at USD 600 billion and provides employment to millions of people worldwide. But plastic pollution has become a crisis of monumental proportions, with 8 million tons ending up in oceans…

National Monitoring & Evaluation Systems for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation In the Kyrgyz Republic, the national rural water and sanitation program, launched in 2017, seeks to improve service delivery by providing adequate water and sanitation services to many underserved rural households. The primary objective of the knowledge exchange was to build the capacities of the key stakeholders to develop, pilot and support the…

Strengthening the Water Sector Institutional Development in Angola The Government of Angola aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of selected water sector agencies and to increase the coverage of sustainable access to water services in target cities. To support this reform process in the water sector, a knowledge exchange was organized for Angolan high-level officials to learn from the experiences of…

Strengthening Solid Waste Management in Peru 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…

Improving Solid Waste Management for Greener Growth in Romania To improve solid waste management and reduce harmful emissions and their negative impacts on the environment, the Government of Romania participated in an exchange with Turkey. They gained a broader understanding of the technical components of waste management, innovative methods to convert waste into energy, and the importance of a strong waste…

Congo Learns about Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Service Contracts in Water and Sanitation Despite having the mighty Congo River—the third largest in the world—along its entire Eastern border, Congo lacks a proper water infrastructure; as a result nearly three quarters of Congo’s urban population has no access to clean water. Congo’s Ministry of Energy and Hydraulics requested the World Bank’s help to reform and encourage private sector…

Strengthening the Water Sector Reform Process in Nigeria The World Bank has been supporting improvements to the Nigerian water sector since 2004. Its Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for fiscal year 2014 to 2017 identified improved access to water supply as central to improvement of health in Nigeria. In coordination with the third World Bank-financed National Urban Water Sector Reform Project (NUWSRP…