EU

#EYESONGREEN competition: who are the 3 Green Changemakers who won the competition?

The Award Ceremony of this contest jointly organised by SwitchMed, DG NEAR and EU Neighbours South took place this morning within the framework of the celebrations of the World Environment Day.

Published on Thursday 03 June 2021· NETWORKING FACILITY

Aya Sarsour Khateeb, Besma Belbedjaoui and Youness Ouazri have been crowned champions of the #EYESONGREEN regional competition, organized by SwitchMed, DG NEAR and the EU Neighbours South (EUNS) regional communication project within the framework of the celebrations of the World Environment Day. The contest was concluded this morning through the Awards Ceremony held online.

The #EYESONGREEN competition covered seven countries in the Southern Neighbourhood region: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia. It put on the spotlight the success stories of 14 preselected Switchers (two from each country). The public and jury were asked to vote over the past few weeks to select the top three “Green Changemakers” in the region. After these consultations, the names of the winners were revealed this morning:

 

1st Green Changemaker: Aya Sarsour Khateeb, the Switcher who values household waste
2nd Green Changemaker: Besma Belbedjaoui, the Switcher revolutionising plastic recycling
3rd Green Changemaker: Youness Ouazri, the eco-builder Switcher

The Awards provided by EUNS include a three-dimensional package with the following:
– A Certificate of Recognition to be given to each winner as a ‘Green Changemaker’ which they could use to promote themselves and their businesses.
– Online trainings to improve the communication soft skills of the winners.
The 1st winner will have the opportunity to select a specific full module for a one-on-one coaching by a professional coach in the language he/she prefers.
The three winners will benefit from 10 coaching online sessions (1h30 per session) to be ensured by different coaches/experts from MediaNet Academy.
– The production of a portraying and inspiring video pitch/or promotional video for each winner and disseminating then on the EUNS channels.
On top of that, SwitchMed also provides the 1st winner with a 2500-euro voucher for technical services.

The Awards Ceremony took place this morning between 9.30 and 11.30am. It was moderated by Ms Maya Karkour, and involved experts from the European Commission such as Ms Carmen Falkenberg Ambrosio, Acting Head of Unit, Inter-institutional Relations and Communication, DG NEAR who said: “We firmly believe that sustainable change requires mobilization on all fronts. Young, creative and determined eco-entrepreneurs like the Switchers are critical to a green recovery strategy.”. Mr Stefano Dotto, Head of Sector Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Transport in the Neighbourhood South and Ms Sylvie Fontaine, Programme Manager of regional programmes in the field of Environment, Water, Agriculture in the Neighbourhood South also participated as well as experts from SwitchMed, the ENI CBC-Med programme, The Next Society Project, and the 3 Switchers who won.

Watch here the replay of the ceremony: https://bit.ly/3g0L41E

"SwitchMed focuses on circular economy, which can be seen as a difficult concept. The programme is carrying out demonstration projects in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in the textile sector to show how it can be put into practice.”

Carolina González Muller, Industrial Development Officer - Industrial Resource Efficiency Division - Department of Environment - UNIDO & SwitchMed Project Manager

"We firmly believe that sustainable change requires mobilization on all fronts. Young, creative and determined eco-entrepreneurs like the Switchers are critical to a green recovery strategy."

Carmen Falkenberg Ambrosio, Acting Head of Unit, Inter-institutional Relations and Communication, DG NEAR

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