The National Initiative for Smart Green Projects announces the start of the technical evaluation phase in cooperation with development partners for 2nd cycle

The National Initiative for Smart Green Projects announced the start of the technical evaluation phase in cooperation with development partners from international and national organizations for its second session, in preparation for the final evaluation phase through the National Evaluation Committee headed by Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt.

Ambassador Hisham Badr, Assistant Minister of Planning for Strategic Partnerships, Excellence, and Initiatives and General Coordinator of the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects, explained that the current evaluation committee includes representatives of the Ministries of Planning and Economic Development, Communications and Information Technology, Environment, the Federation of Industries, the National Council for Women (NCW), and The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)  as well as the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a number of national bodies, experts and representatives from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

The work of the current evaluation committee will continue over a period of two weeks at the headquarters of the Institute of national planning (INP) to select qualified projects.

Ambassador Hisham Badr referred to the tangible development and qualitative shift witnessed by the initiative in its second session, as that session witnessed an increase in the number of projects qualified for the final stage of evaluation.

Ambassador Hisham Badr added that the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects was keen to create strategic partnerships with a number of parties, including universities and schools, to increase youth awareness of the problem of climate change and urge them to participate with their ideas and creative solutions in the initiative, in addition to the partnership with the Ministries of Immigration, Youth and Sports and higher education.

Badr stressed the importance of evaluators looking at the participating projects from a comprehensive perspective, carefully using unified standards, and following transparency standards in order to reach the most accurate and best projects.

He stressed that the initiative is built on the foundations and principles of governance, which has greatly contributed to its success, continuity, and ability to provide practical solutions to climate change risks.

The general coordinator of the initiative also stressed the sustainability of the support provided by the initiative and its ability to create opportunities for its participants, and to present their projects at the global level, noting that five of the winning projects in the first session received international honors.

For his part, Khaled Mustafa, Permanent Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, said that the initiative came as a practical path to provide solutions to the challenges of climate change facing the country, and transfer them to the world, which stems from the fact that Egypt is one of the countries most affected by the repercussions of climate change, even though it is one of the countries causing it least.

Mustafa stressed the ability of residents to identify projects that provide the best solutions in various governorates, and transfer them from the local level to international platforms.

He referred to the participation of the winners of the second session in the COP28 that will take place in UAE next November.