Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is that Panama’s municipal markets are significant generators of organic waste, yet they lack the systems, incentives, and behavioral change mechanisms necessary to transition towards a sustainable circular economy model that reduces waste, promotes food security, and strengthens community participation.
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?
Panama’s municipal markets are critical public infrastructures that serve as economic, social, and cultural hubs—but they are also major contributors to the city’s organic waste crisis. The Red Integral de Mercados Municipales Urbanos (RIMMU) is the third-largest source of organic waste in Panama City, where over 2,500 tons of waste are generated daily—50% of which is organic. This situation is compounded by inefficient waste management systems, lack of infrastructure for composting and food rescue, low levels of environmental awareness, and fragmented governance.
Recognizing this challenge, UNDP and FAO jointly secured a $250,000 award from the SDG Fund to address this issue through a systemic and cross-sectoral initiative. This collaboration seeks to transform waste management in five public markets using circular economy principles, while also promoting inclusive governance, innovation, and behavior change.
The initiative strategically integrates a portfolio of experiments across different intervention areas to collectively test what works in building a sustainable model. These experiments include: testing composting models, piloting food rescue programs, activating placemaking for behavior change, co-developing a digital dashboard system for waste management, and launching communication campaigns for environmental awareness. Each experiment is designed to feed learning and adaptation into the others, allowing for real-time iteration and systemic integration.
The initiative is grounded in multi-actor coordination involving local government (Dirección de Mercados Municipales), civil society (Fundación Rescate de Alimentos), academia (Smithsonian Institute), and the private sector (Bliss). It aims to reduce organic waste sent to landfills, improve food security, generate compost, and activate markets as sustainable public spaces. However, the current situation still shows disjointed efforts, weak policy incentives, data silos, and limited community ownership—leading to missed opportunities for economic value recovery, worsening climate impacts, and continued citizen disengagement from public market governance.
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.
2,500 tons of waste are generated daily in Panama; 50% is organic.
The RIMMU is the third-largest source of mostly organic waste.
5.6% of Panama’s population (approx. 200,000 people) face food insecurity.
71.1% of adults suffer from diet-related diseases.
Target: Reduce landfill waste by 10%, and produce 150 kg of compost monthly.
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.
Behavioral resistance and lack of incentives for composting and sorting at source observed in stakeholder engagement sessions.
Informal feedback from vendors shows interest in participating in food rescue and composting if solutions are practical, low-cost, and profitable.
Weak signals of change: increased social media traction around sustainable markets; rising consumer interest in local food, sustainable gastronomy, and cleaner public spaces.
Pilot activities show growing willingness to co-create solutions.
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?
The Accelerator Lab offers a unique capacity to prototype circular economy solutions through a sandbox approach and a systemic integration of a portfolio of experiments, combining:
- Behavior change campaigns,
- Participatory placemaking,
- Environmental storytelling,
- Experimentation with composting and food rescue,
- Data system development and real-time dashboards.
Our Lab’s strength lies in the trust we have built with our partners during our previous work in public markets, which allows us to test assumptions rapidly, foster cross-sectoral partnerships, and generate actionable learnings that can be scaled. Through the systemic integration of multiple experiments, we are able to explore complementary entry points into the challenge and build a more robust and scalable transformation pathway.
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 markets generate tons of organic waste daily. We’re testing circular economy pilots—composting, food rescue, and placemaking—to turn waste into value and markets into sustainable community hubs. #SDGs #CircularEconomy #Innovation
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Dirección de Mercados Municipales
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Strategic partner guiding implementation, policy integration, and stakeholder coordination.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Technical lead on food systems, food rescue, and sustainable gastronomy.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Fundación Rescate de Alimentos
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Implementation of food redistribution and training in food rescue.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Bliss
What sector does our partner belong to?
Private Sector
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Design and implementation of composting systems and circular economy pilots.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Smithsonian Institute
What sector does our partner belong to?
Academia
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Development of the "black soldier fly" model for bio-conversion of waste.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
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 might we co-design circular economy models in municipal markets that are environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and socially adopted by vendors and communities?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Test, Grow
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?
Behavioral insights are being used to design nudges and messaging to change waste-related habits.
Participatory Design for Placemaking helps reimagine and reclaim public market spaces as cultural, inclusive, and social areas.
Systems mapping is helping identify systemic barriers and alliances to prioritize interventions.
Sandbox pilots allow testing composting, food rescue, and circular product transformation before scaling.
Digital dashboards (Data Visualisation) allow real-time tracking and decision-making based on standardized and accessible data.
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?
Fragmentation of data across Excel, paper forms, and siloed stakeholders.
Lack of real-time information on waste flows, composting, or food redistribution.
Limited behavioral data on citizen and vendor engagement.
2Zero hunger
11Sustainable cities and communities
13Climate action
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