VNG International DEALS podcast Bert Keesman (2019) - 30:9:19 23.27 by Irene

In a series of podcasts the International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities, VNG International, interviews people involved in the programme Governance of Inclusive Green Growth in Cities (DEALS). Our main question is: what or who makes the key difference at the local level?

VNG International is an expert in strengthening local government in developing and transitional countries. DEALS is a programme to support fast-growing cities in the transition to inclusive and sustainable development. For this transition new forms of cooperation are needed between local government, companies, social organizations, knowledge institutions and funding institutions.

In this podcast (#4) we interview Bert Keesman, councilor of the municipality of Weesp in The Netherlands and owner of the company Metasus. For VNG International, the DEALS programme, he visited the city of Pereira, Colombia, to co-facilitate a debate on integrated waste management amongst candidate Mayors to the city of Pereira. He facilitated the debate together with Fernando Umaña, journalist for El Tiempo. Mayors elections are held at the end of October 2019. It was a first time such a debate took place.

The programme is financed by the Netherlands ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Inclusive Green Growth department.