The EU funded regional project SWIM-H2020 Support Mechanism is ending by the end of April. It was dedicated to strengthening capacities and awareness on reduced marine pollution and the sustainable use of scarce water resources.

It was an intense three years of working very close with the stakeholders in the Partner Countries in the South and East of the Mediterranean: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia. 

More than 1.408 trainees benefited from the project’s Capacity Building Activities: 14 Regional and 51 National Trainings, 6 Study Tours, 20 National Consultations, 16 National Meetings, 10 Peer-to Peer Activities and 5 Webinars.

At the Closing Meeting that took place in Brussels on the 8th of April, everyone involved expressed appreciation of the above efforts but most of the discussions were on the achieved results and impacts. A booklet summarizing this is available in English, French and Arabic, including some deduced Lessons Learned that will be useful not only to the follow-up 4-year project expected to launch in May (the Water and Environment Support (WES) mechanism), but also to other similar regional projects.

Ms. Henrike Trautmann, Head of Unit-Regional Programmes Neighborhood South, DG NEAR, and Mr. Davor Percan, Head of Unit – Bilateral and Regional Environmental Cooperation, DG ENV, both attended the Closing Conference of the project, along with Mr. García-Herraiz Roobaert and Ms. Alessandra Sensi from the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, Ms. Tatjana Hema, Deputy Coordinator of the Mediterranean Action Plan of UN Environment, Ms. Galina Geogieva and Ms. Cécile Roddier-Quefelec from the European Environment Agency and many more.

Read here the SWIM-H2020 SM News Release