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Networks for Prosperity PART 1, Chapter 1: Private Sector Development, Knowledge Management and Networks
Box 1.2: The UNIDO-UNEP National Cleaner Production Centres GENERAL CONTEXT
An interesting example of intra-country interorganizational knowledge networks pooled together in regional and global platforms concerns the UNDIO-UNEP National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPCs). Cleaner production is the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes, products and services to increase resource efficiency and productivity and reduce risks to humans and environment. Changing consumption and production patterns towards more sustainable ones is singled out as one of the key-objectives for industrial policy. Cleaner production (CP) is also strongly embedded in international environmental and sustainable development policies and strategies such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), in particular MDG 7 (ensuring environmental sustainability). Moreover, many leading publications of multilateral organizations stressed the importance of cleaner production. The recent UNEP report on Green Economy highlighted the importance of cleaner production in achieving sustainable consumption and production. However, the implementation of cleaner production and the transfer of cleaner technologies is not straightforward, especially in developing countries, due to several barriers including a lack of knowledge. Firms and local entrepreneurs are usually not aware of the scope and potential of CP. In order to address this knowledge deficit UNIDO and UNEP established NCPCs, which have begun to play a major role in developing a “culture” for cleaner production in local communities and country-wide by coordinating cleaner production programmes, acting as a facilitator between industry, government, universities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and building the human capacities required to acquire and manage cleaner production and technologies. Since 1994, more than 47 NCPCs have been established which have catalyzed the implementation of CP methods, policies, practices and technologies in their respective home countries and beyond. The countries include Albania, Armenia, the Plurinational State of
Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cape Verde, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Peru, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, and Zimbabwe. The establishment of NCPC’s is achieved through multiple project agreements mainly involving a donor (institutional donors for country-specific projects on the one side and project-based donors for multi-country projects on the other side) and a host country (or hosts countries for multi-country projects) for a period of initially 3 years. MAIN ACTIVITIES OF NCPCS
NCPCs provide mainly four types of CP services. Awareness-raising is a first activity for a NCPC. Awareness-raising targets to explain what CP is, what benefits it can bring and what roles people can play to implement it. NCPCs disseminate information on CP concepts, methods and benefits to raise awareness and commitment for CP. NCPCs also have an important role in disseminating best practices and best technical case studies of CP techniques that emerge as a result of local demonstration projects. Secondly NCPCs work with individual enterprises to identify, evaluate and help implement CP options that are appropriate to the enterprise’s processes, products or services, technologies and management systems. Thirdly, NCPCs train a cadre of national experts that can assist enterprises and other organizations with the implementation of CP, through training of trainers or assessors. It is an essential activity of NCPCs to build up local expertise and capacity to spread CP. NCPCs can offer technical assistance to individual enterprises that request it. Fourthly NCPC’s liaise with government and other key stakeholders to identify ways to create a policy environment more conducive to CP. MULTI-LEVEL NETWORKING ACTIVITIES
In order to strengthen the network effect,
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