Mexican-German triangular cooperation
Project description
Title: Mexican-German triangular cooperation
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Mexico
Lead executing agency: Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID)
Overall term: 2010 to 2017
Context
One of the emerging markets, Mexico has a series of development policy achievements to show for itself, specifically in the environment, energy and climate sectors. Mexico’s experience could benefit its neighbouring and other Central American countries and enable them to better manage their own development policy challenges.
Furthermore, Mexico and its Central American neighbours also share transnational challenges, such as increasingly prolonged periods of drought covering increasingly large areas or the need to coordinate their strategies for climate change adaptation. Mexico’s pioneering role in terms of regional development policy and the shared challenges not only highlight the importance of regional exchanges and learning processes, but also underscore the need for Mexico and other Central American countries to work together on joint regional development strategies.
Objective
Mexico and Germany are harnessing their complementary strengths to make a significant contribution to sustainable development in third countries.
Approach
Mexico is not only a recipient of international cooperation funds, but also a donor– especially with regard to its cooperation projects with Central American countries and the Caribbean. Themselves cooperation partners for 40 years, Germany and Mexico embarked together on triangular cooperation activities in 2006. In the meantime, they have brought eight projects to a successful conclusion and have another eight ongoing. The Mexican development agency AMEXCID has taken a lead role in the initiation, support and strategic orientation of triangular cooperation; the country’s respective specialist agencies are charged with consultancy and implementation.
Results
As part of bilateral cooperation between Germany and Mexico, the Mexican federal institute for workers’ housing INFONAVIT has developed and improved mechanisms for energy efficient housing, such as the Green Building Mortgage (Hipoteca Verde), and for assessing and registering residential buildings (SiseviveEcocasa). At the request of the Colombian Government, both partners are now assisting the authorities in Colombia to roll out these instruments on site.
With the assistance of German specialists, the Mexican National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity, CONABIO, has established a department capable of highly accurate satellite-based investigations into ecosystem changes, such as forest fires, logging or the impacts of climate change. Colombia, like Mexico, is a ‘mega diverse’ country where changes in land use can have particularly serious impacts on species diversity. Mexico and Germany are therefore working with the Colombian Ministry of Environment to establish a reliable Earth observation system.
In Bolivia, Mexico’s National Water Commission, CONAGUA, is providing technical support to Bolivian communities to help them improve their wastewater and sewage infrastructures. Besides installing pilot sewage treatment plants, it is setting up a dynamic learning platform and training staff from national and municipal authorities to manage water resources.
Mexico’s National Association of Supermarkets and Department Stores, ANTAD, operates a virtual platform that includes a special environmental component for testing resource efficiency. Retailers and suppliers can harness the feedback from this tool to raise their efficiency. Thanks to support from GIZ and ANTAD, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Guatemala and Honduras can now access this platform and the environmental tool, too. Thus, triangular cooperation is contributing to sustainable economic development and poverty reduction in the region.