Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution (SMEP) programme: reducing plastics pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (research and innovation) 2019 to 2024
Call for concepts to pilot innovative, investible, pollution mitigation concepts in East Africa, waste-to-energy inputs and intercepting by-products.
Short overview
The SMEP programme seeks to fund 3 to 6 pilots in East Africa, transforming industrial waste-to-energy inputs for industrial processes and directly intercept and preferably recycle by-products from industrial processes.
A budget of between 250,000 and 1 million GBP per pilot will be made available from April 2023.
What the fund will achieve
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concepts should align with 1 of the 2 thematic areas:
- waste-to-energy (W2E) inputs for industry
- intercepting by-products from, and preferably recycling back into, industrial process
- concepts should result in a solution capable of piloting within the manufacturing sector.
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proposals should be implementation-focused and designed in such a way so that the proposed delivery of the piloting will demonstrate:
- technical feasibility of the solution and improved TRL
- commercial viability and a business case for investment by manufacturers
- a use case for new solutions in the industry
- efficacy of the solution to mitigate the pollution
- concepts may bring together different stakeholders, either as individuals or in a consortium, with at least one consortium member being based in a target country including: manufacturers, solution providers, research institutions, industry actors
- pilots should have an implementation period of 18 to 36 months.
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concepts that can demonstrate one or more of the following co-benefits are encouraged:
- GHG emission reduction
- wider benefits for human health, and the environment
- opportunities for local wealth creation and/or opportunities for women, and/or opportunities for marginalised groups
- concepts that can demonstrate application across multiple manufacturing sectors and with impact potential across multiple value chain systems are particularly encouraged
- pilots supported by co-finance or contributions in-kind; as well as clearly showing local buy-in, will be prioritised
Read the terms of reference, pdf (659kb) for more detail.
How to apply
Read application guidelines and submit your application on the submission portal.
Background information
The Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution (SMEP) Programme supports innovative solutions that prevent pollution from manufacturing being released into the environment. It is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), in partnership with the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The programme includes a focus on generating evidence and practical solutions to address the problem of plastic ocean pollution. The programme has an investment fund of up to £20 million to be allocated over a 5-year period (2019 to 2024) with up to £9 million of this potentially available for this procurement call.
Contacts
You can send queries about the development and submission of concepts to procurement@smepprogramme.org with subject line: C_005a CfC: Application reference number.
The deadline for submitting queries is 1pm (BST) on 1 September 2022. Assistance is available on Mondays to Thursdays 7am to 3pm GMT and Fridays 7am to 11am (BST).
Clarifications submitted by email will also be made available for all applicants to view via the SMEP Procurement webpage, as well as the Submissions Portal.
UK government contacts:
Last updated 18 August 2022 + show all updates
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The deadline for this call for concepts has been extended to 1pm on 15 September 2022.
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First published.