Important Projects

The following are examples of the type of projects that CEGESTI designs and executes in support of sustainable development in Latin America and other regions. The support provided facilitates the achievement of concrete results in environmental, social and economic aspects with a positive effect on the quality of life of the inhabitants.



RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSES IN CENTRAL AMERICA


Responsible Businesses
Cegesti

CEGESTI with the purpose of pursuing its contribution to sustainable development, CEGESTI promotes the project “Responsible Businesses in Central America”, with the financial support of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The general objective of the project is to promote the improvement of the regional capacities to ensure respect for human rights and decent work, particularly in the productive sector. The project is being developed in four components with specific objectives:
1. Responsible Business Practices.
2. Sustainable Public Procurement.
3. Communication Strategy.
4. Dialogue Generation.


SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT


Cegesti

Studies on the generation and composition of solid waste

The municipalities of Desamparados in the province of San José and of San Carlos in the province of Alajuela, Costa Rica, conducted the planning and implementation of their respective studies on the generation and composition of ordinary solid waste in the communities they serve.

Studies on solid waste characterization

The Municipality of Belén and the Municipality of the Central Canton, province of Heredia, Costa Rica, conducted an updated study on the generation and characterization of solid waste in their communities.

Municipals Plans for Management of Waste

Municipality of Alajuela: "Municipal Plan for the Integral Management of Waste (GIRS, as abbreviated in Spanish) of the canton of Alajuela". This project comprises the generation and characterization of ordinary waste from businesses and homes in the canton. In addition, CEGESTI supported the development of regulations on the implementation of GIRS and the implementation of an educationa and awareness-raising campaign aimed to the community concerning this topic.

Municipality of San Carlos: in the province of Alajuela, CEGESTI provided advisory services to define a format for the solid waste management plan for patent holders and the incentive regulations for this municipality.

Municipality of Escazú: CEGESTI provided advisory services for the development of the Environmental Management Plan, which integrates actions of the quality, environmental, energy and climate change management components.

Good practice study on impact for solid waste management in Central America

A technical revision of the Best Practices Guide for Impact on Solid Waste Management Policies in Central America was conducted during 2011. This revision was made by the Impact Fund of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), together with CEGESTI’s technical assistance.


BUSINESSES AND SUSTAINABLE MARKETS


Promoting social and environmental business opportunities in Central America and the Dominican Republic
Cegesti

In the framework of this project, CEGESTI provided advice and training to eight companies of the Central American region and the Dominican Republic. The project’s objective was to strengthen the competitive capabilities of the participating companies through the implementation of actions leading to their improvement in the social and environmental dimensions. Some of the companies that were offered advising during 2010 were: 1. Unión de Cooperativas Agroforestales de la Biosfera del Río Plátano (UNICAF-BRP) (Honduras), 2. Lácteos Foremost S. A. de C. V. (El Salvador), 3. Grupo Banamiel (Dominican Rep.), 4. Coonaprosal (Costa Rica), 5. Corporación Monteverde (Costa Rica), 6. Tecnoagro (Guatemala), 7. Coco S. A. (Guatemala) y 8. Proagroin (Costa Rica). This project was funded by SCHOKLAND-SME CA&DR Fund (Schokland Fund) and ICCO, in conjunction with Oikocredit.

Social and environmental business opportunities in the buffer zone at Parque Internacional La Amistad (PILA), Pacific sector
Cegesti

With this project, CEGESTI seeks to facilitate the development of social and environmental business opportunities in the Asomobi and Acetusama associations located in the buffer zone at the park “Parque Internacional La Amistad”, in Costa Rica’s Pacific sector. The objective of this project is to generate the necessary capabilities in these associations to effectively implement an integrated strategy addressing both financial and environmental issues, providing each project with a sustainable identity and high local and international presence. The project is funded by the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives and the CRUSA Foundation.


CLIMATIC CHANGE


Carbon footprint
Cegesti

With the support of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CEGESTI trained a group of participants on the carbon footprint and how to determine it in companies and organizations. Representatives from companies of diverse sectors, such as government, private organizations, banking and the Guatemalan productive sector attended the training program.


CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES MANAGEMENT


Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
Cegesti

With funding from the GEF Small Grants Programme, UNDP (Costa Rica), CEGESTI prepared a manual on the management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), with the purpose of raising awareness regarding the importance of eliminating their use and strive for the enforcement of the existing legislation related to this type of substances. As a result of this project, approximately 130 participants proceeding from different groups and networks benefited from the GEF Program, public and private employees and the Costa Rican society in general were provided an awareness-building process through virtual (e-learning) and on-site training.


RENEWABLE ENERGY


Study on Renewable Energy in Costa Rica
Cegesti

CEGESTI conducted a study on renewable energy in Costa Rica for the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE, abbreviated in Spanish) and UNIDO. The study generated three important products: 1. Baseline report on energy technologies in Costa Rica; 2. Report on state of the art of the energy sector in Costa Rica; and 3. Report on the financial mechanisms for the renewable energies sector in the country.


SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE


Social, environmental and corporate governance performance of the coffee sector
Cegesti

CEGESTI provided support to OIKOCREDIT in the evaluation and identification of opportunities for improvement in the social and environmental and corporate governance variables in eight coffee farms located in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, through an evaluation of their current situation and the identification of improvement options in these aspects.


SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY


Promotion of rural tourism markets for small producers, associations and/or communities in the Northern zone of Costa Rica.
Cegesti

CEGESTI, in conjunction with the Consejo Consultivo Nacional de Responsabilidad Social (CCNRS – National Social Responsibility Council), provided supoort to the PROMES Project in the generation of capabilities on social responsibility among the technicians of institutions and businesses of the rural tourism sector in Sarapiquí, Caño Negro and Guatuso, located in the Northern zone of Costa Rica.


INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS-BASED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS


Implementation of an ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and INTE/OHSAS 18001 Integrated Management System
Cegesti

During the years 2008-2012, the Electricity Production UEN of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) summed up to 20 electric power generation stations that have achieved the implementation and certification of their integrated management systems under the ISO 9001-2008, ISO 14001-2004 and OHSAS 18001-2007 standards, this with CEGESTI´s technical assistance.


SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DUE DILIGENCE


Social and environmental Due Diligence
Cegesti

Based on IFC social and environmental standards, ILO fundamental rights, as well as the guidelines of standards such as SA 8000, OHSAS 18001, ISO 14001, FLA and ETI-Sedex, CEGESTI has conducted a number of projects in the Central American region and Colombia, with the purpose of determining the performance of organizations in these subject matters as a previous requirement to accessing financial resources aimed at operation extension projects. These evaluations have further included the development of the respective plans of action. The sectors included are: agro-industrial, industrial and manufacturing.


RESPONSIBLE PROCUREMENT


Implementation of environmental policies in public contracting in Central America
Cegesti

In this project, CEGESTI implemented incidence actions to promote the approval of a regional policy on sustainable consumption in Central America, which would translate into institutional policies on sustainable procurement and instruments for its implementation.

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