Project description

Title: Environmental Promoter Network Red GIRESOL (triangular cooperation)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Dominican Republic
Lead executing agency: Mexican Foreign Ministry
Overall term: since 2006

Context

Triangular cooperation has been part of technical cooperation with Mexico since 2006. It refers to implementation of joint projects by a donor country (here Germany), a selected emergent country (here Mexico) and a developing country. With the help of triangular cooperation, examples of successful bilateral cooperation between Germany and Mexico can be emulated in other Latin-American countries. A good choice for the first such measure was the extension of the environment promoter network, Red GIRESOL, to include Guatemala, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. In 6 practice-oriented training cycles, since 2004, GIZ (until December 2010: GTZ) has trained 200 environmental promoters who offer advice and training to local authorities, in the field of integrated waste management. In doing so, they are multiplying their own acquired know-how.

Objective

Lessons learned while setting up the environmental promoter network in Mexico are being transferred to other selected countries in the hope of making a significant contribution to sustainable development in the region.

Approach

To begin with, an assessment was made of the relevance of integrated waste management as an area for cooperation between the three countries involved. Before agreeing to the cooperation, all relevant public institutions were contacted so they could be involved as fully as possible in the project. In Guatemala the environment ministry as well as the health ministry were persuaded to become project partners, as was the National Commission for Waste Management. In Ecuador, as well as the ministries of environment, rural development, and health, the participants included the state bank, the municipal association and the Ecuadorian Agency for International Cooperation. In the Dominican Republic, the environment ministry, the National Council for State Reform and the Dominican Municipal Association were involved in the project.

After agreeing on the objectives and approaches in a constructive dialogue, cooperating closely the participating countries adapted the training content of the six-month environmental promoter course to fit their local circumstances, laws and institutional frameworks. The courses were then conducted by German and Mexican experts. This modified form of cooperation among developing countries met with great approval by the recipient countries, as many of the promoters stem from a similar cultural background, speak the same language and have to cope with similar problems.

The Mexican trainers support the new environmental promoters to organise integrated waste management – in other word, they help to introduce modern ideas about waste utilisation and disposal, they teach ways of producing less waste, about composting and about the secure disposal of waste. GIZ’s role is to support the training of the Mexican experts, ensure their quality and to work toward the long-term sustainability of the network.

Results achieved so far

In Guatemala, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic, almost 140 staff members of ministries, municipalities and local government associations were trained in workshops and on the job to act as environmental promoters. In Guatemala alone, with the help of these environmental promoters, further training has so far been given to 136 environment ministry staff, 122 environmental inspectors, 543 municipal employees and over 900 individual citizens. Moreover, additional training has already begun in the country to qualify some of its environmental promoters so that that they can conduct courses of their own, and thus form an independent network of environmental promoters.

In all, some 80 percent of the geographical area of Guatemala Ecuador and the Dominican Republic is now served by the promoters.

Downloads

• RED GIRESOL: Esfuerzos locales, impactos globales
  GIRESOL NETWORK: Local efforts global impacts
  (Abril de 2009)
  Red-Giresol-Giresol-Network-2009.pdf, 6.08 MB (Spanish/English)

Further information

• Portal Latinoamericano de Residuos Sólidos
  Red GIRESOL portal on integrated waste management in Latin America
  www.giresol.org