The committee of the Stockholm Convention set up to select projects submitted by its Regional Centers for the annual call of the "Small Grant Project" (a fund created by the government of Norway with the objective to implement discrete project activities assisting Parties to meet their obligations under the Convention) has selected one of the projects presented by SCP/RAC to support green entrepreneurs to be funded with 40 thousand dollars in 2014.
The project entitled "Supporting Green Entrepreneurs for a POP’s free Mediterranean" aims at supporting new companies wanting to phase out POPs and the use of toxic chemicals in the design and production stages of its products.
The objective will be to train and support entrepreneurs to establish new companies and initiatives to contribute to the mainstreaming of ‘POPs-free’ products in the market. The main strength of this proposal is that the emphasis is placed on the development of green businesses, incorporating environmental protection from the design stages and adopting the life-cycle approach. From the very beginning entrepreneurs will be made aware of the objectives pursued by the Conventions and will be supported in identifying the opportunities -and the existing alternatives- to eradicate the production, use, trade, release and storage of POPs and other dangerous chemicals from their businesses.
The project would give the chance to introduce a section and module on possible actions to phase out POPs within the SWITCH-Med Programme’s Training Methodology for Green Entrepreneurs and Eco-design. The country selected will be Algeria, one of the eligible countries of the SWITCH-MED project.
The “Centre National des Technologies de Production Plus Propre” of Algeria (CNTPP) will actively participate to the implementation of the project.