KEPSA an implementing partner of the SWITCH Africa Green program, represented by Ms Faith Ngige – Climate Business Information Network-Kenya Coordinator, on 4^th to 6^th October 2023, attended the regional forum of the Switch Africa Green, that took place at the Trianon Convention Center, Port Louis, Mauritius. The regional forum organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Sustainable Development, Mauritius, under the theme “Advancing Circular Economy in Africa” convened senior officials from governments, regional economic communities, the European Union, SwitchMed, financial institutions, academia, research institutions, cleaner production centres, UN agencies, micro small and medium enterprises and experts.

The Kenya delegation also included CBIN-K member, Ms Askah Kerubo of Nyangarora Banana Processors, The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry representative Mr Augustine Kenduiwo, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) represented by Dr Ayub Macharia, and the Kenya National Cleaner Production Centre represented by Mr Steve Nyamori.

The SWITCH Africa Green programme is funded by the European Union and is implemented by the UNEP in collaboration with the European Union Delegations. It was designed to support seven African countries (Burkina-Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda) in Africa to achieve sustainable development by engaging in the transition towards an inclusive green economy, based on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns.  The program was guided by regional priorities and settings. The SWITCH Africa Green programme has promoted circularity approaches through the promotion of biogas technology, E-waste management, organic agriculture, green manufacturing and eco-industrial park and standards, and labelling in the hotel industry, among others.

During the high-level opening of the regional forum, H.E Ms Lisa Simniue Sing - UN Resident Coordinator, Mauritius and Seychelles highlighted that the transition to an inclusive green economy requires scaling up on the cooperation and collaborations among countries as well as creating synergies with emerging trends to achieve the objectives – such as circular economy approaches and exploring a workable mechanism for access to finance for green investments among others.

The First Counsel of the EU delegation to the Republic of Mauritius, Mrs Florence Van Houtee noted that the linear model of production and consumption is no longer sustainable. The current trajectory will require three planets and this is no longer sustainable. Sustainability therefore has become an existential imperative.

Minister of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change, Hon. Kavydass Ranamo emphasized the need for upstream and downstream collaboration to facilitate scale-up of the innovations fostered under SWITCH Africa Green to foster access to green finance. Africa has a huge opportunity to transform into a green and circular economy.

The Switch Africa Green project started in 2013 under the EU and incorporated UNEP in 2014, it has supported 34 projects in seven countries with components of supporting green business development, policy, legal and regulatory support and networking facilities across the five themes of water efficiency, energy efficiency, sustainable trade, labels and standards and eco-innovation.

The program was implemented in four priority sectors namely; integrated waste management, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing. More than 3000 micro, small and medium enterprises benefitted from the grants amounting to US$11.6 million in phase one and a similar number in phase two through the provision of services such as capacity development and mentoring, knowledge and information management and fostering of market linkages and partnership in the participating countries. A total of 16,404 jobs were created during the first phase of the program. Sixty-one percent of the jobs were in the agriculture sector, 21 percent in the manufacturing sector, 16 percent in waste management and 21 percent in sustainable tourism. Over seventy percent of all MSMEs reported monetary gains arising from increased sales and cost-savings. SCP interventions helped improve production and business processes and practices.

During the manufacturing session, Ms Faith Ngige emphasized the need for a value chain approach in greening efforts across countries in Greening of the manufacturing sector which is complimented by sustainable trading and fostering sustainable consumption patterns for consumers. This is key to ensuring that the greening efforts do not turn out to be non-tariff barriers to trading and addressing the greening of both manufacturing and sustainable trading for holistic reforms and transformations.

Dr Ayub Macharia, Director NEMA - Kenya shared Kenya’s lessons in the development of integrated waste management policies and laws for the green transition. Kenya has reviewed her relevant laws which mostly provided for linear approaches of collecting and dumping of waste to the new regime of circular economy. By using public-private partnership and collaboration, where private sector led by KEPSA contributed to the development of Sustainable Waste Management Policy 2021, Sustainable Waste Management Act 2022, the county model sustainable waste management law and the ongoing implementation of mandatory extended producer responsibility.  The education sector's transformation to a green and circular economy requires holistic national transition policies not piecemeal approaches. Retooling of education curriculum and workforce training and professional development programs is urgently required.

The transition to an inclusive green economy requires scaling up on the cooperation and collaborations among countries as well as creating synergies with emerging trends to achieve the objectives – such as circular economy approaches and exploring a workable mechanism for access to finance for green investments among others. The forum provides an opportunity to forge partnerships and collaborations to accelerate the gains made from the project.

The forum released a joint communique on ADVANCING CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN AFRICA.