On the 8th of march 2023 the SEACAP 4 SDG project partner MEDREC hosted the public event “Green and Efficient Cities for a Sustainable Mediterranean” at the Golden Tulip Hotel, in Tunis (Tunisia).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gathering saw the participation of the main project partners representatives as well as many local and international institutional and professional personalities.
It was hosted by Mr. Marco Polverari (Director of MEDREC) and was attended by many guests including the European Union Delegation in Tunisia representatives, Mr. Paolo Scialla and Mr. Dario Trombetta, that gave an overview on the European Union role in the cooperation projects on environment, climate change and energy, along with the Tunisian state of the art on local energy transition development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The opportunities within the ENI CBC Med Programme were also discussed, with the online intervention of the “Environment and climate change” expert Mr. Fadi Karam. During the intervention he talked about how the ENI CBC Med Programme already created several Mediterranean partnership to work on strategy and capitalization projects, that were strategic to drive local development and impact with regard to energy transition progress.
The General Director of Cross-border cooperation, Mr. Fethi Ben Mimoun presented the Tunisian context with regard to the Tunisia's participation in cross-border cooperation and the role of Tunisian Ministry of Economic and Planning, that have enabled the implementation of different project involving Tunisian entities and organisation to access European funding such as the ENI CBC Med Programme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within the projects funded through this programme there is the SEACAP 4 SDG project, presented by the Project Coordinator, Mr. Bernard Massabo (Euromed Cities Network / Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis). The intervention also featured the presentation to the audience of the Toolkit and Supporting Mechanism implemented in the framework of the SEACAP 4 SDG project by some representatives of the main project partners. 
Mr. Jordi Pascual (Senior Researcher in Building Physics, IREC), talked about the specific actions in local public centres and municipalities, with the objective to transfer knowledge to the beneficiary entities selected as the municipalities, to improve their climate action plans and cost-effective energy rehabilitations.
Ms. Souha Ferchichi (Technical expert, MEDREC) and Ms. Panagiota Saranti (EU Project Manager and Researcher, University of Patras) presented the methodologies of SEACAP 4 SDG Living Lab, as well as its structure, governance, management, and exploitation. To date, local living labs have been successfully held in Tunisia, Greece, Lebanon and sessions in Spain and Italy are are currently underway in these weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The event was also attended by a number of Tunisian cities representatives, including Ms. Sonia Dhaouadi, Head of the Studies Department of the Municipality of Bizerte, who explained in her speech how, as part of the fight against climate change, the municipality has signed an agreement to strengthen the capacities of its staff in the assessment and planning of energy management measures for its buildings through the SEACAP 4 SDG project. In addition, an in-depth energetic audit for the city hall building is underway.
The manifestation concluded with the round table “Towards green and sustainable Tunisian cities”, an opportunity to open the debate on new models of sustainable energy development actions to implement within the Mediterranean territories, with an in-depth look at its current state in Tunisia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The conference was a really helpful opportunity for clarifying further information about the project initiatives and showcasing the partnership's strong teamwork and communication abilities.
We express our gratitude to our partner MEDREC for organizing such an event and to create the opportunity to discuss about green efficiency development and how the SEACAP 4 SDG project Toolkit and Supporting Mechanisms can represent an added value in the development of local public buildings in Tunisia as well as in the other project partners’ countries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, since the event was held during the International Women's Day, to celebrate it pins were created for participants to wear during the event and the female members of the project including partners and beneficiaries (municipalities representatives) were invited to take part in an interview addressing the theme of this year “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. 

A video with all interventions HERE!

A video coverage of the event HERE!