Green champions, green practitioners and enablers of greening of MSMEs are coming together to celebrate the achievements of the ProGED Project and to commit to accelerate green economic development beyond the project life. The ProGED Closing Event is a venue to showcase the results of the project, give recognition to the men and women behind the project achievements and to discuss how the greening initiatives started by the project will be used as springboard to accelerate green economic development.
The Promotion of Green Economic Development (ProGED) project is a development cooperation project between the Republic of the Philippines through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Federal Republic of Germany through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) that aims to support MSMEs to adopt greening and climate resilience initiatives to enhance their competitiveness.
The ProGED project started in 2013 in Cebu and Bohol and now, has expanded to 30 provinces all over the country.
MSMEs in the value chain of tourism, processed food, gifts decors and housewares, coffee, cacao, among others were introduced to different greening strategies to give them option on how to integrate environment friendly measures in their operations.
MSMEs were also introduced to support services for greening like green service providers, green technology suppliers and financing institutions with financing windows for greening projects.
The different government agencies, academic institutions, local government units, chambers of commerce and industry associations were also sensitized and supported so that they will come up with enabling laws and ordinances to support MSMEs who would want to go green.
Several regional inphasing events were conducted since September this year, leading to this culminating activity. During inphasing events, regional and provincial project implementers and stakeholders listen to testimonies of green practitioners on how adopting green practices benefited them by cutting down productions costs, such as electricity bills, and how going green help them access new markets, tapping into the demand of consumers for environment friendly products and services. Different enablers supporting the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) also came together to discuss available plans, activities and programs that help MSMEs in their journey towards greening.
Inphasing events were held in Iloilo City (for Region 6, 06 to 07 September), Dumaguete City (for the provinces of Negros Oriental and Siquijor, 08 to 09 September), Bohol (for the province of Bohol, 12 September), Surigao City (for the province of Surigao del Norte, 14 to 15 September 2015), Puerto Princesa (for the province of Palawan, 16 September), Legazpi City (for Region 5, 26 to 27 September), Calamba City (for Region 4A, 29 September), San Jose City (for the province of Occidental Mindoro, 30 September), San Fernando City (for the province of Pampanga, 07 October) and Butuan City (for Region 13 and the province of Agusan del Norte, 12 to 13 October).
The ProGED stakeholders from Cebu Province will jointly celebrate with the rest of the ProGED implementers and practitioners from all over the country during the closing event in Cebu City.
GIZ supports the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development.
Together with Philippine and Pacific Island partners, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) promotes sustainable development through technical cooperation projects and services.
GIZ is commissioned by the German Government and has been operating in the Philippines and the Pacific Islands for more than 40 years.
For more information on the services of the DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph
