The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has participated in the preparatory meetings for the “National Initiative for Green Smart Projects in Governorates” conference, due to be held on November 3. The meetings have been convened under the auspices of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and in the presence of senior officials and members of the National Jury of the initiative.
Along with MCIT officials, the meetings have been joined by officials from the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the Ministry of Local Development, the Ministry of Environment, the Egyptian Sustainable Development Forum, the National Council for Women, and the National Training Academy.
Representatives of national and international agencies and United Nations (UN) organizations participated in the meetings, including from the UN Women, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). This is in addition to officials from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Egyptian Exchange, the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), the Supreme Council of Universities, and the Federation of Egyptian Banks.
The meetings provided an opportunity to discuss the final preparations for the initiative’s national conference, which will be held under the auspices of the President of the Republic. The winning projects that will participate in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), held in November in Sharm El-Sheikh, will be announced during the conference.
The initiative focuses on sustainability-oriented innovation. Projects submitted should offer unique opportunities and benefits and realistic solutions to digital transformation challenges. The initiative runs at two main levels: the local, undertook by governorates; and the national, after which projects are selected.
During the national conference, a total of 162 selected projects (six from each governorate) will be presented. In addition, 18 projects, winners of the final qualifiers, (three in each of the six categories of the initiative) will be announced.
The initiative is due to be implemented and further updated on an annual basis. It features several areas, including women-focused category for projects addressing women’s empowerment issues, or those projects to which women contributed significantly. This comes in line with the national efforts for empowering women. The initiative is also aimed at supporting local communities to develop solutions to climate change challenges.
The Green Smart Projects initiative is an unrivalled opportunity that focuses on real-life implementation and application. It has been launched as part of the preparations for hosting COP27 in Egypt.
Under the initiative, a governorate-level map and database are created to include a list of green smart projects and link them with local and foreign investors and funding agencies. The aim is to attract the necessary funding and nurture homegrown solutions to climate change issues.
Objectives of the initiative include addressing environment concerns and climate change challenges in a direct and prompt manner, helping attain the sustainable development goals, and supporting the national digital transformation agenda through presenting projects that fulfill these goals.
Projects that achieve the highest fulfillment rate of the initiative criteria are selected. A digital platform has also been created, with an assessment tool embedded to evaluate projects and save relevant documents. The evaluation process is explained on the platform, helping guarantee impartiality and objectivity during the selection process.
