Last Thursday, March 23 and Friday, March 24, the workshop “Regional Development Agencies. Strengthening territorial articulation with the ARDs of Apurimac, Ayacucho and Cusco”, part of the project “Identification, sensitization and advocacy for the consolidation of ARDs in Peru”, executed by the Decentralization Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Peru. of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of that country. This is the second workshop to be held, after the one held with the ARDs in the north of the country.

The project seeks to contribute to the process of sustainability of the ARDs in Peru, as well as to the construction of the Regional Innovation Development Strategies (EDIR), with the purpose of promoting inter-institutional articulation among the ARDs to strengthen the work and public-private link between the regions, through the systematization and critical analysis of the experience of the seven agencies participating in the project: “Sustainable economic development and promotion of SMEs at the subnational level”, co-financed by the European Union and the German government, in conjunction with the support of Rimisp – Latin American Center for Rural Development, as project partner, and the German government, in conjunction with the support of Rimisp – Latin American Center for Rural Development, as project partner. CEDEPAS North, for the preparation and implementation of these regional exchanges scheduled to take place between February and April 2023.

During the two-day workshop, ARD representatives from the regions of Cusco, Apurimac and Ayacucho in Peru exchanged experiences related to the mechanisms they are applying for the articulation of the quadruple helix and learned about international experiences on sustainability strategies for Regional Development Agencies.

The first day of the workshop began with welcoming remarks by the European Union representative European Union in Peru, Robert Steinlechner, who highlighted the importance of inter-institutional coordination spaces for sustainable economic development and SME production at the sub-national level, and Rubén Darío Antúnez Milla, Undersecretary for Regional and Local Coordination, of the Secretariat of Decentralization of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, PCM, who thanked – PCM, who thanked for the participation in the meeting and valued the work of the different participating actors. From the Secretariat of Decentralization of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, we will continue to support all types of strategies that contribute to the building of trust oriented towards the sustainability of the work of the ARD”, added Antúnez Milla.

In addition, the representatives of the ARDs of Apurímac (Elías Araníbar Aguilar), Ayacucho (Waldo Ccenhua Bustamante) and Cusco (Marcos Huamani Fuentes) expressed their gratitude for the implementation of the project. This exchange process, which is being led by our brothers from CEDEPAS with Rimisp, will have a productive and profitable result in order to strengthen the regional ARDs”, highlighted Waldo Ccenua.

The rest of the first day of the workshop was highlighted by the presentation on Coalitions for territorial development, given by Silvana Vargas Winstanley, former Minister of Development and Social Inclusion of Peru, and the presentation of the experiences of inter-institutional coordination promoted by the Regional Development Agencies (ARD) of Apurímac, Ayacucho and Cusco.

Second day: Exchange of quadruple helix experiences.

The second day of the workshop with the ARDs of the South began with a presentation on inter-institutional articulation experiences and sustainability strategies by Marco Dini, part of the Division of Production, Productivity and Entrepreneurship Development, ECLAC. There was also an exchange of experiences of articulation for territorial development, interactive work between actors of the quadruple helix (public sector, private sector, academia and civil society) and a presentation of the experience of public-private articulation for the development of value chains of the Association of Fruit and Avocado Producers of the Limatambo Valley of Cusco (APROFRUT).