Switch Africa Green Programme is implemented by UN Environment with the assistance of the European. It was launched in 2013 and the 2nd phase of the programme started in 2017.
The overall objective of SWITCH Africa Green is to support 6 countries in Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda) to achieve sustainable development by engaging in transition towards an inclusive green economy, based on sustainable consumption and production patterns, while generating growth, creating decent jobs and reducing poverty. The objective will be achieved through support to private sector led inclusive green growth.
The specific objective is to support the development of green business and eco-entrepreneurship and use of SCP practices by having in place:
- MSMEs and business service providers that are better equipped to seize opportunities for green business development.
- Better informed public and private consumers.
- Enabling conditions in form of clear policies, sound regulatory frameworks, incentives structures, tax, other fiscal and market-based instruments influencing key sector(s) in the 6 African countries.
The programme has 3 components:
- Green business: Activities shall aim at supporting transformation towards an inclusive green economy by providing services to entrepreneurs and MSMEs that enable them to start and develop green business, apply sustainable production practices and create trade opportunities.
- Policy support: The policy support component will respond to the specific needs of each pilot country building on and scaling up existing activities to promote the development of green economy and SCP policies and regulatory frameworks in those countries.
- Networking facilities: The networking facility will provide project support services for networking and communication among the projects and countries.
In addition, the themes that are addressed in the projects of the programme are:
- Energy efficiency
- Labelling standards
- Water efficiency
- Eco-innovation
- Sustainable trade