SWITCH Africa Green Regional Sector Meeting on Green Manufacturing

The SWITCH Africa Green regional sector meeting on green manufacturing, took place from 26-27 September 2019, in Entebbe, Uganda. The meeting was attended by Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) experts, policy and decision makers, financial institutions and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Others were government officials from Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Uganda, among others, Regional Economic Communities, the European Union (EU), UN agencies, and experts in green manufacturing sector.

Speakers

The meeting was opened with remarks from United Nations Environment Programme, National Environment Management Authority of Uganda and a Keynote speech from a representative of the State Minister for the Environment, Ministry of Water and Environment Uganda.

Setting the scene

Mr. Patrick Mwesigye, Regional Coordinator, Resource Efficiency, United Nations Environment Programme set the scene of the meeting while Ms. Rhoda Wachira presented the Regional Sector Report on Manufacturing: Focus on Green Business Development.

Sessions

Other sessions included a Panel Discussion on Good Practices from SWITCH African Green projects with presentations from Sky Fat Tannery: impact of implemented IS in leather from Jinja, Uganda, Champion Shoes by James Mwaura from Kenya, STAB by Felicite Y Bobo Dioulasso from Burkina Faso and Developing Green Businesses in Rodrigues, Mauritius by Marie Lourdes Raphaël Robertson of the Commission for Environment, Rodrigues, Mauritius. On Existing Green Manufacturing Strategies, presentations were on Green Manufacturing Strategy in Uganda by Mr. Silver Ssebagala,  Green Manufacturing strategy of Ethiopia by Mr. Addisu Tibebu. Groups tackled Role of RECPnet in Green Manufacturing, Policies to promote Green Manufacturing, Technical Assistance Models for Enterprises in the Manufacturing Sector and Sustainable Trade and Markets  presented to plenary. Ms. Letitia Nyaaba of Ghana Cleaner Production Centre and Mr. Stephen Nyamori of Kenya Cleaner Production Centre also made presentations.

Policy recommendations for an enabling environment to strengthen regional and national mechanisms for uptake of SCP practices in the manufacturing sector

The recommendations made included the creation of awareness and capacity building in implementation of SCP in the sector, need for a policy to strengthen Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production through the Africa Roundtable,  harmonization of modules and tools from all countries and information access, need for a unified body to capture  discussions and disseminate  information generated from dialogues, need for a cost-benefit analysis for green products in ongoing projects, creation of a platform for UN-African Union and Regional Economic Communities, the European Union and other agencies,  development of an annual National Manufacturing Report for each country, positioning of the Roundtable as an aggregate of Inter-Parliamentary Union, Pan African University and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and benchmarking at the grassroot level and undertaking of experience-sharing to replicate successful interventions.

The workshop report is available here.