THE SWITCHERS TALKS”, THE FIRST ONLINE EVENT TAILORED FOR THE SWITCHERS COMMUNITY AND GREEN ENTREPRENEURS
The Switchers Community gathered in a two-day online meeting to explore how the community can achieve a stronger impact in terms of visibility, advocacy and knowledge transfer and which are the key strategies for its future development.
Who are The Switchers? The Switchers is a community of 400 inspiring green entrepreneurs and change makers in the Mediterranean region, implementing eco-innovative solutions that contribute to sustainable and fair consumption and production models. The community was developed by the Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP/RAC) of UNEP/MAP and started within the framework of the EU-funded SwitchMed programme. Since 2019, the Switchers has become an independent initiative, leading to the creation of the Switchers Support Programme; thus positioning UNEP/MAP-SCP/RAC as a main catalyser of green innovation and green employment as strategic sectors for Green and Blue Economy in the Mediterranean region.
on June 28 and 29, The Switchers met for the first edition of “The Switchers Talks”, an event specially designed for them with the main goal of fostering the discussion on how this community should evolve to be more impactful and to better offer business opportunities to the community members.
The first day of the event was only open to the Switchers while the second opened its doors to the public, offering a Master Class jointly organized with EVPA, Investing for Impact and a series of workshops.
On the first day, Switchers from Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan and Palestine interacted, shared their experiences and reflected on organization mechanisms, services and communication strategies for communities with different experts.
On the second day, the EVPA-SCP/RAC joint Master Class focused on impact investing for sustainable businesses, hosting investors and philanthropists who “pitched” their financial missions and objectives to green entrepreneurs, giving insightful details to access impact investment in the Region. Three simultaneous workshops were also hosted and attendees had the chance to hear from nine different experts on : Digital Marketing and Sustainable Branding, Nature-based Solutions and The Community Digital Support.
The 2nd day was marked by the high-level panel of speakers welcoming the work and actions of the Switchers in the region: Tatjana Hema, acting coordinator of UNEP/MAP - Barcelona Convention Secretariat addressed first, followed by Enrique de Villamore, director of SCP/RAC; Sylvie Fontaine, Program manager at DG NEAR and Alessandra Sensi, Head of sector of Environment and Blue Economy at Union for Mediterranean (UfM).
The representatives of the 4 institutions highlighted the importance of the role of the Switchers in the region and recognized that their efforts contribute to initiate the transformational changes needed for a green renaissance in the Mediterranean, paving the way for a prosperous and regenerative circular economy in the region.
Capacitating green entrepreneurs and eco-innovation is a key element to embrace a journey towards a healthier Mediterranean, thus the promotion of green jobs, green entrepreneurs and eco-innovation is identified as Strategic Objective of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development.
In a nutshell, a total of approximately 100 participants joined the virtual event organised by the Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP/RAC). The event set the lines for the next years and helped to build a bigger, stronger and more united community of change-makers, in line with the region’s ambitions.