The Laboratoire de l’économie sociale et solidaire (Lab’ess), based in Tunisia, is launching its first call for projects to select 24 ecological solutions led by young entrepreneurs active in Casablanca in Morocco, Nouakchott in Mauritania, Amman in Jordan, and Tunis in Tunisia. This initiative, supported by the French Development Agency (AFD), aims to develop sustainable cities in line with the United Nations’ 11th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
To this end, projects should focus on waste management, the circular economy, sustainable mobility, responsible consumption, eco-urbanism, agroecology and smart agriculture, ecotourism, eco-construction, energy transition, and social and citizen innovations. Interested students, start-ups, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have until 20 February 2023 to submit their applications.
In addition to financial support ranging from €30,000 to €40,000, the winners of this first cohort will also receive technical support from the Mauritanian association Ecodev, which specializes in promoting green entrepreneurship in West Africa, and the Moroccan non-governmental organization (NGO) Bidaya, which is supported by the Dutch government.
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“This call for projects aims to set up projects that meet the challenges that cities face to become more accessible, liveable, and resilient to the effects of climate change that are affecting the African continent,” AFD said. In August 2022, the financial institution granted 3.3 million euros for the implementation of the “Salam” project focusing on sustainable development. This initiative led by Lab’ess aims to identify sustainable innovations developed by civil society organizations (CSOs) on the southern shore of the Mediterranean.
For more information on the call for projects, click here.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi