Networking on SCP in Asia
An interview with Frans Verspeek on his work with the SWITCH Asia Network Facility
Is SCP on the agenda in fast growing Asia? Frans Verspeek, SWITCH-Asia Network Facility team leader, answers with “Yes”. More than 50 projects in over 16 countries are currently underway within the SWITCH-Asia Programme alone – the single largest European Commission funded SCP programme.
SWITCH-Asia supports and facilitates projects on a wide range of SCP practises ranging from cleaner production and consumer education to public procurement. To lead these diverse projects a CSCP-led Network Facility was created. Below team leader Frans Verspeek provides an overview of the work of the Network Facility over the past year and shares his vision for the future. CSCP: Frans, can you share with us the role of the Network Facility?
breakthrough in 2012 by bringing a large number of diverse projects closer together during two smaller events held in New Delhi and Beijing and a much bigger annual event in Bangkok. Despite the fact that it is not easy to host such large and diverse groups, that include both start-up and experienced practitioners, we could really see the mutual benefits that the project partners were realising by learning from each other and building upon their shared experiences.  CSCP: What were the highlights of the large SWITCH-Asia Networking meetings held in Bangkok?
Frans Verspeek: In Bangkok we hosted a lively and interactive “Big Bazaar” session for a highly motivated group. During the bazaar we identified a number of innovative options to share and co-operate among projects. The SWITCH-Asia programme is growing very quickly at the moment. We have a large and growing pool of SCP experts and experiences in Asia to draw upon and we are really starting to see meaningful benefits from the linkages that the Network provides.
CSCP: What are your plans for 2013?
Frans Verspeek: Facilitating connections between projects across Asia is the main objective of the CSCP-led Network Facility. The conferences we host and the networking that these events facilitate are at the core of our mission. Above that, we work to ensure meaningful follow-up and continued learning and networking after these events. The SWITCH-Asia website has evolved to become a solid SCP knowledge hub in Asia. But there is still opportunity to improve the site enormously. The Network Facility is therefore developing an interactive e-exchange platform linked to www.switch-asia.eu to enable project contacts and SCP practitioners to seek out and obtain direct access to valuable tools, case studies, surveys and reports that are based upon the practical ground experiences of the SWITCH projects in Asia.
CSCP: The Network Facility is now entering its fourth year. What lessons can you say that you have learned during this time?
CSCP: In the first three years the Network Facility visited nearly all of the projects to get a first hand view of how things were going and get to know our partners. We interviewed hundreds of organisations and their beneficiaries to understand whether they were able to successfully move projects beyond the demonstration phase to a meaningful scale up. Where scale up had happened we were very interested to learn how the project partners were able to be successful. Really successful scale up that endures after a project is completed is the most important objective for the SWITCH-Asia programme.
By visiting the projects in person we were able to identify a range of leverage points. We selected a number of examples that illustrated success factors and described key lessons and necessary conditions to maximise the potential for enduring success of the SCP projects in Asia. Intermediary reports were already uploaded on switch-asia.eu, and the Network Facility team is working hard to synthesise what really is a wealth of dispersed project specific information into a series of condensed reports that we hope to publish in the coming year. Further information
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