Title

Please provide a name for your action learning plan.

 Exploring systemic opportunities for experimentation in CE&SWM

Challenge statement

Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)

Our challenge is the need to articulate systemic efforts to tackle the complex crisis of solid waste management in Panama City.

Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?

Our challenge focuses on the systemic problem of solid waste management in Panama and Panama City. In Panama, a country of 4.5 million people, every person generates about 1.2 kilograms of solid waste per day, of which only approximately 65% is collected and transported to the final disposal sites, which are the sanitary landfills (Cerro Patacón, in Panama, and El Diamante, in West Panama) or the more than 57 landfills across the country, with significant implications environmental in both cases (INECO, 2017).  Across more than 5 decades, the role of managing waste in Panama City has shifted from institution to institution - and to this point, there is still a lot of ambiguity about who is responsible for what, while the problem persists... and seems to worsen. Beyond the institutional/governance element, there are sociocultural-behavioral, economic and environmental systems what collide within the solid waste management from rural to peri-urban and urban settings.  The new legislation for National Solid Waste Management (Law 276, 2021), does not clarify the pre-existing ambiguities, however, it does open an opportunity to generate insights and actions at a local governance/territorial level. There is an opportunity for local ecosystems (communities, entrepreneurs, businesses and governments) to articulate efforts to tackle this systemic problem from a grassroots approach.    In our previous cycle, we engaged with a diverse set of actors, including the National Waste Collection Authority, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Environment, with whom we discussed opportunities to articulate actions through solutions mapping, collective intelligence and experimentation to advance efforts towards a more sustainable solid waste management and transition towards a circular economy from the bottom up. However, the results of these processes also highlighted the need to articulate and engage with private sector actors, not just generators, but also private waste collection companies and big recycling companies that have the financial muscle to accelerate transitions in a more distributed way, articulating local governments, NGOs and entrepreneurs/innovators through collective systemic - actions at a hyper-localized level.

Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.

The basics that are known about SWM in Panama is that each Panamanian generates 1.2kg of waste, but only 65% of the population has access to a waste collection system. The metropolitan area of Panama concentrates more half of the population of the country (about 2.5 million inhabitants) and also the highest generation of waste. The solid waste management crisis of Panama City is exemplified by the collapse of the landfill of Cerro Patacón, which is already a severe environmental hazard for nearby communities, recyclers and the city as a whole. To better understand the current state of SWM, we have conducted some data mapping with the National Waste Collection Authority to understand what the current situation of solid waste management looks like for Panama City, as well as existing data related to the situation of the rest of the country. Together with UNDP GIS team, we were able to develop the demo of a dashboard to visualize existing, official data on SWM. However, there are many known unknowns that we currently mapping, such as the location of waste collection points, critical waste collection points and waste collection routes. For the rest of the country, quantitative-official data is almost non-existent, except for the INECO study (2017), which conducted a series of waste characterizations at municipal landfills and some socio-economic analysis of the SWM situation of Panama. However, there is still little understood on the realities of rural municipalities and communities - and this is the focus of our work as a Lab. On this regard, the work on the rural municipality of Tonosi has been instrumental in bringing to the table the rural perspective of the problem. 

Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.

As part of this process of mapping the 'landscape' or system of solid waste management (SWM) actors in Panama, we have identified a diversity of clusters of actors that have influence in the problem (and possible solutions) at multiple levels.  However, there is a sense of 'lack of direction' or 'leadership' on what is that vision we all should unite for, as much as it is an imminent problem, different actors speak multiple languages, have different (and conflicting) values and interests and struggle to find common ground for action. In constrast, if there is something that mobilizes all actors involved, is the need to take action. It is acknowledged that the diversity of initiatives to tackle solid waste are not silver bullets, therefore we need to act at multiple levels to accelerate improvements in the way that solid waste management operates.  Another key element that emerged is that actions need to happen at a territorial level, given that often these discussions happen in a "mass of bishops", the actors of the system speak in languages that are often very distant from the way citizens see and speak about the problem.  Lastly, there is a need to 'ground' actions. There are multiple policies, laws, norms and plans that lack implementation and pose a good starting point to articulate systemic actions at a territorial level.  During Q1-2023, we conducted a series of interviews, focus groups, workshops and ethnographies with multiple actors to identify key areas of action, this process has been hand-in-hand with the design of a narrative strategy to 'popularize' these areas of action with citizens to take collective action. 

Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?

During the last 2 years, the AccLab in Panama has worked in engaging at multiple levels in the system of actors related to SWM, mapping solutions, exploring opportunities to combine different sources of data and experimenting pathways of actions in multiple contexts to generate learnings on what works and what doesn't, positioning not just the AccLabs, but also UNDP as an enabler of the ecosystem. In our previous cycle, we put a lot of effort in using GIS tools to visualize multiple datasets that help understand the problem, what we know, what we do not know - and what we can learn together. On this last part, the value add of the AccLabs is the capacity to design experiments that have systemic impacts, with a particular focus on involving private sector actors, which have also seen value in the ecosystem mapping and the insights that emerged from this process.

Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?

Panama's AccLab is harnessing the power of collective intelligence by combining GIS data, ethnographic insights and user-journeys to design 'systemic experiments' to tackle the solid waste management in Panama City. Want to know more? Check out its most recent blog here: 

Challenge classification

Partners

Learning questions

Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?

Where are the opportunities for systemic experiments related to solid waste management in Panama?

Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

We are currently finalizing a social network analysis to identify where is the energy in the system to take action, these starting points will enable the opportunity for participatory design of experiments that are sustained not just in quantitative data, but also ethnographic insights from the previous interviews, focus groups and user journey analysis. As a result, we aim to generate spaces [and a hackathon] to co-design prototypes together with universities and key actors from the private sector.

Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

The main value add of this learning cycle is the user-centered and hyperlocal approach of these actions in key areas of influence, which will require of georeferenced data of specific points where these actions will take place, ethnographic insights through social cartography and user journeys that will put people and context at the center of the interventions - and key actors from communities will be part of the co-design of prototypes that take action where it matters the most for those that are closest to the problem.

Learning questions

Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?

How can the learnings from the San Felipe Neri Market be disseminated in other public markets and the community of practice identified in the landscape of actors related to circular economy and solid waste management in Panama?

Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

The pilots for this process are already running, in a way, we are proving concepts and hypothesis related to circular economy and public markets, the results of this process could be visualized in terms of data and insights; as well as the redefinition of these experiments that can become MVPs to be replicated/piloted in other public markets.

Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

The idea is to document user centric experiences on the MVP to capture insights on what work, what didn't and how these MVPs could be expanded to other public markets. 

Learning questions

Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?

How can the learnings from the recycling pilot in Tonosi be disseminated in other territories and the community of practice identified in the landscape of actors related to circular economy and solid waste management in Panama?

Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

In this phase of the Tonosí recycling pilot, we are testing the model -with a few adaptations- to two (new) communities: Guánico and Tonosí Cabecera. The expected outcome of this process is the generation of learnings from the expansion as well as a potential Minimal Viable Product/Model that could be replicated in other geographies. In order to document these insights, we will use data ethnography, micronarratives from pilot participants and user-journeys, which will be the base for the MVPs - if we do identify that this has the potential to be 'grown' in other geographies.

Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

The Cambutal pilot has been running for about 6 months now, however, there is very little known about the perspectives from different users in the process. The operators of the machine, the businesses that participate and the municipality. Understanding these perspectives and experiencies on the deployment and evolution of the pilot is key to understanding why it works -or doesn't, and adjustments needed for a potential expansion (incorporation of overall learnings from the pilot).

Closing

Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?

We are already identifying the community of practice on solid waste management solutions, one of the key outcomes of this process is to establish, together with actors from all sectors, an observatory of SWM where all data on this matter can be visualized, monitored and used for a diversity of purposes, including the documentation and 'growth' of prototypes and pilots that can be adopted by communities, institutions and/or private sector actors. 

END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.