A collaborative partnership focused on solid waste management has been created through the initiative of the Swiss Development Cooperation, the Urban Management Programme, and the Thematic Group on Urban Waste Management at the World Bank. The program involves other multi- and bilateral partners (for example, DANIDA) and a network of developing country experts, professional associations including ISWA, and specialized non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Swiss Centre for Development Cooperation in Technology and Management (SKAT) and Waste International. The program was launched at a workshop in Ittingen, Switzerland, in April 1995. (SKAT, 1995). At the workshop, a Collaborative Working Group (CWG) was established, a multi-year joint work program agreed, and a conceptual framework approved. (Schubeler, et al., 1996)

A second workshop of the CWG was held in the World Bank in February 1996 on the topic of private sector participation for solid waste service delivery (SKAT, 1996a). A third workshop was held in Cairo in October 1996, and focused on micro-enterprise involvement in solid waste service delivery (SKAT 1996b). A fourth workshop was organized in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in September 1998, with a particular focus on ultimate disposal options including sanitary landfill, recycling, composting and hospital wastes. (SKAT, 1998)

The latest meeting of the CWG was organized in Manila in September 2000 and focused on strategic planning approaches for integrated waste management. Also, as the CWG’s initial multi-year joint work program reaches completion, the group convened in Manila to agree upon a new joint work program for 2001 and beyond.