The I-GO initiative is piloting its deployment in the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) region through the United Nations Development Account (UNDA) Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) project to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) improve their market opportunities.
Apart from strengthening national capacity to implement sustainable public procurement measures, the SPP project also aims to directly support businesses comply with associated sustainability criteria by increasing their understanding of what is required to access new sustainability-based markets.
I-GO’s approach will help SMEs in the region access a tailored range of knowledge products and support services that can help them improve the resource efficiency of their operations and products and/or services to be able to comply with sustainable public procurement criteria.
To adapt I-GO’s support structure to the specific needs of locally based SMEs, including its self-assessment tool and SME Support Centre, all organisations involved in resource efficiency within the EECCA region are invited to participate in this endeavour.
Joining the I-GO EECCA network offers numerous benefits to such partnering organisations as international development organisations, government organisations, business associations, NGOs, SME service providers and multinational companies. It enables them to:
- Promote their resource efficiency support services such as online tools, technical guides, case studies, training solutions, financial incentives through the SME Support Centre database for increased uptake by SMEs
- Help their network of SMEs improve their resource efficiency by building awareness of the I-GO tools
- Engage with a wide network of other I-GO partners in their country to share resource efficiency experiences and best practices, notably through the Green Forum
This joint SPP/I-GO project, coordinated by the Ukrainian Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Centre (RECPC), primarily targets three countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine – but also considers awareness raising across the EECCA region by engaging actively with SMEs and SME intermediary organizations.
The I-GO initiative was developed by the Green Industry Platform in collaboration with the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) initiative and is currently being deployed in several regions in collaboration with the Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development Goals (GO4SDGs).
The UNDA project “Enhancing sustainable public procurement (SPP) for the regional transition to inclusive green economy in EECCA” is being delivered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
For more information, please contact Andrii Vorfolomeiev (Coordinator at Ukrainian RECPC).