“the event left me with very high expectations to share with my colleagues”

Three weeks ago, I kicked-off the first candidate Mayors debate on inclusive waste management in the city of Pereira, Colombia, with the statement that Mayors are those who have the true power to transform society and generate positive impacts on the city and the world.

With that great expectation 234 people gathered to listen to the 8 candidate Mayors’ proposals on how to improve waste management and humanise the process of collection and separation in the city. The live broadcast reached 7500 views and around 1400 comments. As of today, the transmission takes 13200 reproductions. The debate was discussed in more than 14 notes in the media published before and after the event.

Fabián Velásquez, a waste picker, said: “the event left me with very high expectations to share with my colleagues and it is good we are publicising the situation of waste pickers in the country and in our city; I am pleased we have a job to do and we are going to study it”.

Through the Governance of Inclusive Green Growth in Cities (DEALS) programme, we have taken the initiative to try and ensure that integrated and inclusive waste management is on the agenda of Pereira’s public and private sectors. Are you curious on learning how we did this? Then please read our whole story written by Juanita Mendoza in Spanish of English.

Irene Oostveen
Senior project manager