Workshop on Circular Economy Roadmaps in Serbia with UNDP

Title: Workshop of circular economy roadmaps

Date: September 18-19 2019

Partner: UNDP

Description:

The interactive workshop was organized by UNDP and carried out by Circular Change, Institute for Circular Economy, Ljubljana, Slovenia, as part of the project Circular Economy Platform for Sustainable Development in Serbia. It was designed to take the attendees on an intense two-day journey to develop 1) the necessary knowledge, capacities to begin preparing the Serbian CE roadmap, drawing from the experience of the similar project done in Slovenia in 2017-2018; 2) to decide on the key questions – why, how, for whom; and 3) to sketch a viable route forward.

 The workshop was officially opened at 10.00 on September 18th 2019 with a short greeting by Mr. Slobodan Perović, Asisstant to the Minister for Environmental Protection and Ladeja Godina Košir, Director of Circular Change and leader of this workshop. After each member of the WG was asked to introduce themselves, the workshop’s program began to unfold.

The first section of the opening lecture was dedicated to the role of roadmaps in general and to the experiences of various European countries, who have already gone through the process. It was followed by an in-depth presentation of the project “Roadmap Towards the Circular Economy in Slovenia”. During the presentation, Ms. Godina Košir shared her personal experience with being the leader of the project team, and the participated were eager to learn more “behind the scenes” information.

What followed were two presentations by experts who presented the findings of their respective project which were focused on the Serbian environment. Dr. Sandra Kamberović, the legal expert of the project presented the “Comparative analysis of the legal framework for the circular economy in Serbia” and the recommendations for the CE.

Nemanja Stanisavljević, external consultant to the project “Climate sensitive waste management” in Serbia by GIZ presented the outcomes of the project which identifies priority areas and concrete actions for improving waste management practices in selected locations in Serbia.

After the overview of economic instruments for the CE by Niko Korpar, Project Manager at Circular Change, the participants were asked to form four groups and begin brainstorming on the basic challenges behind any roadmap: why it is being made, who is the main audience, which stakeholders must be taken into account, which inputs are needed and what are the next steps.

As each group presented their findings, the moderator Ms. Godina Košir sketched and wrote down key points, after which she facilitated a lively discussion which ended in reaching a consensus. The results of the discussion were put on the walls as the workshop progressed. Stakeholder mapping was the final exercise of the first day.

One the second day, September 19th, participants gathered at 9.00 to continue working on a concrete vision the project. After an engaging debate on the stakeholders, the WG shifted their focus on the priority fields on which to focus.

After being encouraged to build on the pre-existing projects and knowledge, the group decided on the priority fields to work on. For the last exercise the WG sketched out a timeline of future activities that present a concrete plan of action for the following months and are designed to win the support of the key stakeholders, communicate the project, find synergies with other initiatives and produce the first draft of the roadmap.

The workshop concluded with a gathering of feedback and comments and with many friendly remarks, expressing the wish to continue working on this project with the pace, set by the workshop.