The project “Identification, sensitization and advocacy for the consolidation of the Regional Development Agencies (ARD) in Peru“, implemented by Rimisp – Latin American Center for Rural Development, thanks to funding from the European Union and the German government, seeks to contribute to the sustainability process of the ARD in Peru.

As part of the sensitization stage for relevant project actors, Rimisp will conduct an international internship in Chile for representatives of national and regional level entities comprising public sector institutions, private sector, academia and civil society of the Regional Development Agencies. The list of participants of the internship includes actors from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the Secretariat of Decentralization of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (SD-PCM), the Regional Governments and the Peruvian civil society.

The internship will last four days, from Monday, January 23 to Thursday, January 26, and will have the following schedule:

• Day 1: Opening of the activities at Rimisp’s offices in Chile, where specialists in decentralization will present the Chilean reality of the productive development and regional innovation ecosystem.
• Day 2: Participants will travel to the city of La Serena to visit the Regional Corporation for Productive Development of the Coquimbo Region (CRDP) -formerly the Regional Development Agency- where the Peruvian delegation and CRDP professionals will hold a working group to exchange experiences on the strategic axes and initiatives for productive development and sustainable regional growth.
• Day 3: Participants will travel to the city of Concepción to visit the Biobío Regional Productive Development Committee (CDPR) and later, the Corporación Desarrolla Biobío -formerly the Regional Development Agency- which is also part of the development and innovation ecosystem of the Biobío Region. In both places, working tables will be held where experiences and initiatives for productive development and technological innovation will be exchanged, as well as effective models of regional governance.
• Day 4: Closing workshop of the internship in Santiago in which a synthesis will be made and lessons learned from the experiences visited will be shared.

During the 4-day internship, the Rimisp team will accompany and guide the collective reflections and technical exchanges in order to answer the following questions: What experiences of inter-institutional articulation in terms of productive promotion, development and innovation have been developed in Chile? What lessons can be identified from these experiences that can contribute to Peru’s regional economic development strategies? What sustainability strategies can be drawn for ARD in Peru based on what has been observed in Chile?

Since 2018, the German Development Cooperation – GIZ, together with the Secretariat for Decentralization of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (SD – PCM) is supporting the design and implementation of Regional Development Agencies (ARD) in seven departments of Peru (Apurímac, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Cusco, La Libertad, Piura and San Martín) with the aim of activating regional economic development and contributing to the decentralization process with a territorial approach. This project is supported by the “Sustainable economic development and promotion of SMEs at the subnational level” project, co-financed by the European Union. European Union and the German government, and executed by GIZ Peru.