SUDEP South Support Mechanism, the team leader Naceur Hammami, accompanied the representatives of the European Union Delegation in Morocco on a a field visit of Chefchaouen aimed at showcasing the progress, results and perspectives of the Chefchaouen project.

During the visit, Chefchaouen’s mayor, Mr. Sefiani, highlighted important steps towards energy sustainability made by the city thanks to SUDEP project which allowed it win the Moroccan Hassan II Award for ecological cities in 2017. M. Sefiani was also proud to announce that he recently joined the board of the Covenant of Mayors representing the Middle-East & African countries.  To his opinion, Chefchaouen is an example for other intermediary cities of the world. The municipality of Chefchaouen is now equipped with energy efficiency standards for public procurement, thanks to the SUDEP South project.

The Local participative council on sustainability, founded within the framework of the SUDEP project as a consultative body for the municipality was presented to the EUDEL representatives. One of the main mandates of this council is to develop a vision 2030 for the city, done with a cartography of sustainable development goals of 3 axes taking into account EE&RE, climate and environment. The 2030 Vision will be showcased during the International Summit on Intermediary Cities co-organized by UCLG (Global Network of Cities, Local and Regional Governments) hosted by Chefchaouen in July 2018. This will be an opportunity to share SUDEP results at an international level.

M. Antoine Saintraint, responsible of the Economic Cooperation at the EUD, confirmed the international standing of Chefchaouen’s project and noted the impressive results of the project, especially in regards to the quite small size of the city and few resources.

The SUDEP-South project began in early 2015 with 12 cities in 6 countries of the southern Mediterranean. The objective of the SUDEP Programme is to assist local authorities in responding to the sustainable energy challenges and to enable them to implement sustainable energy actions leading to energy savings, energy efficiency and more use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy.

SUDEP support mechanism activities are mainly focused on:

1.      Assistance to local authorities and reinforcing their capacities and their partners in the implementation of the demonstration projects.

2.      Promotion for the replication of innovative actions and the visibility of the programme’s results.

3.      Creation of an enabling environment for the exchange of good practices between project beneficiaries.

4.      And finally the development of their own local strategies to ensure widespread dissemination and sustainability of their projects.