On 7-9 December 2011, in Casablanca, Morocco, H2020 CB/MEP organised a regional workshop with thirty participants from most Mediterranean countries, the main objective of which was to increase the trainees’ understanding of the challenges and opportunities when allowing for private sector participation in the field of waste management and develop their skills to allow them for appropriate decision making in this regard.

On 7-9 December 2011, in Casablanca, Morocco, H2020 CB/MEP organised a regional workshop with thirty participants from most Mediterranean countries, the main objective of which was to increase the trainees’ understanding of the challenges and opportunities when allowing for private sector participation in the field of waste management and develop their skills to allow them for appropriate decision making in this regard.

Two ENPI projects, Horizon 2020 CB/MEP and CIUDAD, joined forces so as to maximize the benefits offered by the training, resulting with around seven local authorities collaborating with CIUDAD participating in the training and building at this level, interlinkages between the two EU funded projects.  

The training was considered as very good - according to the feedback received and expressed in the course evaluation. It was a challenging training for many reasons: diversity of participants (10 countries represented), institutions (national/ regional, local, NGOs) they represented, degree of involvement in waste management. But the trainers were very motivated, using their professional expertise most efficiently.

The course covered the Integrated Solid Waste Management framework and private sector participation; the reason why privatisation should be an option;  how to prepare for private sector involvement;  the tendering and contracts options; the inception phase considerations;  why monitoring is key; and finally lessons learned from experiences. A pre- course assignment had been given prior to the training, while lectures, group- and plenary discussions, learning by doing exercises and a site visit where integral parts of the course design.

The trainees themselves highlighted as topics they would like to address further in the future (i) case studies in the field of private sector participation, (ii) tender documents and contracts, (iii) different treatment methods for waste management (including separate collection) and (iv) monitoring & evaluation.

The course was organized by the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management (ACR+) with the support from SWEEP-NET and ANGED.