Events

The SWITCH Africa Green Networking Session in South Africa will be held on 09 February 2021. The purpose of this session is to share the success stories, challenges and opportunities, in promoting green business development within the second phase of SWITCH Africa Green and also share information on Green Financing. 

The agricultural sector in South Africa is a vital for economic development and the creation of a green economy despite its contribution of just 2 percent to the country’s total gross domestic product. That’s because agriculture indirectly feeds the national economy since almost 70 percent of agricultural output gets utilized as intermediate products in manufacturing. 

South Africa held its SWITCH Africa Green National Networking Forum on 28 June 2017, with the Department of Environmental Affairs as the host. The approximately 50 programme stakeholders participated in the forum, including members of the National Technical Coordination Committee, representatives of the grantees, micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) beneficiaries, United Nations agencies and the delegation of the European Union.

The NTCC meeting was convened at the Protea Hotel Fire and Ice in Menlyn Pretoria on 10th March 2016 and chaired by the Mr. Tlou Ramaru, SWITCH Africa Green National Focal Point from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). The meeting had about 20 participants including the EU, DEA, CSIR, NCPC, DAFF, EDD, DTI and DST.

The main objectives of the meeting were to:

The South Africa SWITCH Africa Green grants were officially awarded to the six successful applicants from South Africa in a ceremony held on 15 December 2015 at the Southern Sun Hotel in Pretoria, South Africa. During the second call for proposals, 14 concept notes were received from South Africa and, after preliminary screening and evaluation, six organizations from South Africa qualified for SWITCH Africa Green grants (see table). The beneficiaries received more than USD 1.4 million for various projects related to the green economy and sustainable development.

The grantees from the second call for proposal were given in-depth training on the monitoring and evaluation guidelines for the SWITCH Africa Green programme. The training sessions were held in South Africa on 26–27 November 2015. During the training, the grantees and their partners were first taken through the grant support agreement signed with the United Nations Office for Project Services and then given in-depth training on the project monitoring and evaluation requirements.

Ghana

In July 2015, over $3.4 million in SWITCH Africa Green grants was awarded for projects in Kenya, Ghana and Uganda. In November 2015, additional awards of over $3 million were granted for 16 projects in Burkina Faso, Mauritius, and South Africa, as well as $4.5 million for 3 multi-country projects covering all six pilot countries. Table 1 lists the grants awarded in Burkina Faso, Mauritius and South Africa and the multi-country grants, and table 2 lists the grants for Kenya, Ghana and Uganda.